The Librarian

by Mikhail Elizarov

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.

Buy on Amazon Buy on BN.com Buy on Bookshop.org

*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.

Pub Date Feb 10 2015 | Archive Date Dec 03 2014

Steerforth Press | Pushkin Press

General Fiction (Adult)

Description

If Ryu Murakami had written War and Peace

As the introduction to this book will tell you, the books by Gromov, obscure and long forgotten propaganda author of the Soviet era, have such an effect on their readers that they suddenly enjoy supernatural powers. Understandably, their readers need to keep accessing these books at all cost and gather into groups around book-bearers, or, as they're called, librarians. Alexei, until now a loser, comes to collect an uncle's inheritance and unexpectedly becomes a librarian. He tells his extraordinary, unbelievable story.

Advance Praise

"Powerful, disturbing, and at the same time, uplifting" Vzgliad

"A truly bright author and an ingenious writer" Vladimir Sorokin, author of Ice Trilogy and Day of the Oprichnik

"The most radical of Russian Booker winners" Snob.ru

"Elizarov is an heir to the classic Russian writers" Prochtenie.ru

"Uncompromising, bizarre and desperate" Gazeta.ru

"How words can be more dangerous than machine-guns" Proza.ru

"A world of myths... and a requiem for a broken country" Questions of Literature