Grouped according to themes of romance, philosophy, fate, fantasy and fable, Gorbunova’s debut collection of stories takes a jaundiced view of the world, turning a magical lens on all-too-familiar problems. There is the woman who is horrified to discover that her husband doesn’t have a soul and the university professor who unwittingly wanders through a post-Soviet hell. Violence and romance hound the employees at a sun-bleached country market, and myth meets modernity when Scylla and Charybdis run into dating woes.

Not since Calvino has a writer twisted the art of the fairy tale to create as stunning a catalogue of miracles and horrors. Gorbunova’s stories are filled with ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, as well as extraordinary people caught up in daily mundanity. Long turning the heads of Russian audiences with her wild and wonderful award-winning poetry, Gorbunova turns here to playful explorations of philosophical concerns about life, being, and meaning, combining clever satire and shocking flights of fancy into an imaginative menagerie all her own. Ings and Oughts is sure to put one of Russia’s youngest and most brilliant literary stars onto the international stage.