“Ludmila Ulitskaya wrote a novel disguised as a documentary file (or, maybe, the other way around), and the subtle way in which she crisscrosses the border only enhances the suspension. This clever literary game resonates with the core ambiguity of the story itself: spanning continents and decades, the dramatic life-journey of its main protagonist Daniel Stein takes him again and again to twilight zones of identities in conflict, the one between Judaism and Christianity dominating the plot. This highly original and powerful book dares to question a whole range of both old and new conventions – without ever loosening its grip on the reader.”

Dr. Serge Ruzer (Israel, Department of Comparative Religion and Chais Center for Jewish Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) on Daniel Stein, Translator