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To become a TV series Learn more Out Highlight The Tunnel by Yana Vagner Author's spotlight Narine Abgaryan Mikhail Shishkin Ekaterina Manoylo Katerina Gordeeva Latest deals Mouse Sinisukk Estonia People Who Are Always with Me Slovakia Artforum My Russia: War or Peace? Prostor Czech Republic Sovien Demons and Other Beasts Arab Scientific Publishers Arabic Take My Grief Away Comanegra Catalan Three Apples Fell from the Sky Ullstein Germany Take My Grief Away Comanegra Spain The Tunnel Robert Laffont France Three Apples Fell from the Sky Tranan Sweden Go on Living Newmag Armenia Mouse Sinisukk Estonia People Who Are Always with Me Slovakia Artforum My Russia: War or Peace? Prostor Czech Republic Sovien Demons and Other Beasts Arab Scientific Publishers Arabic Take My Grief Away Comanegra Catalan Three Apples Fell from the Sky Ullstein Germany Take My Grief Away Comanegra Spain The Tunnel Robert Laffont France Three Apples Fell from the Sky Tranan Sweden Go on Living Newmag Armenia Mouse Sinisukk Estonia People Who Are Always with Me Slovakia Artforum My Russia: War or Peace? Prostor Czech Republic Sovien Demons and Other Beasts Arab Scientific Publishers Arabic Take My Grief Away Comanegra Catalan Three Apples Fell from the Sky Ullstein Germany Take My Grief Away Comanegra Spain The Tunnel Robert Laffont France Three Apples Fell from the Sky Tranan Sweden Go on Living Newmag Armenia Our latest news Jul 17 Narine Abgaryan in Swedish Karavan Narine Abgaryan's short story The Carpet from the collection Go on Living has just been published in Swedish by Karavan magazine,... Jun 24 Katerina Gordeeva at Pushkin House Katerina Gordeeva will be presenting her book Take My Grief Away (published by Ebury/WH Allen, Random House and translated by Lisa C.... Jun 24 Take My Grief Away longlisted for 2024 Moore Prize for Human Rights Writing We're proud to announce that Take My Grief Away - Voices From the War in Ukraine by Katerina Gordeeva (WH Allen/Ebury Publishing, Penguin... May 29 Katerina Gordeeva and Narine Abgaryan in Gothenburg in discussions with Sofi Oksanen and Sven Olov Karlsson September 26-28, 2024 We're happy to share that two of our authors have been invited to at the Gohenburg Book Fair September 26-28, 2024! Narine Abgaryan will...

Books Children & YA Drama Dystopia Fantasy Fiction Genre Graphic novel Horror Illustrated Literary Magic realism Non-Fiction Romance Sci-Fi Thriller Tatsiana Zamirovskaya The Deadnet Learn more Mikhail Shishkin Maidenhair Learn more Elena Avinova, Natalia Osipova The Overcoat Learn more Yana Vagner To the Lake aka Vongozero Learn more Yana Vagner Accomplices aka Hotel Learn more Yana Vagner The Tunnel Learn more Eugene Vodolazkin The Aviator Learn more Eugene Vodolazkin Brisbane Learn more Eugene Vodolazkin Laurus Learn more Eugene Vodolazkin A History of the Island Learn more Eduard Verkin The Sakhalin Island Learn more Svetlana Satchkova People and Birds Learn more Marina Stepnova The Surgeon Learn more Marina Stepnova The Italian Lessons Learn more Marina Stepnova The Women of Lazarus Learn more Marina Stepnova A New Breed aka The Garden Learn more Kirill Ryabov 777 Learn more Edward Reznik Therapy Learn more Dina Rubina On the Sunny Side of the Street Learn more Dina Rubina The Petroushka Syndrome Learn more Dina Rubina The White Dove of Córdoba Learn more Valentina Nazarova The Ritual Learn more Valentina Nazarova Cookies Learn more Valentina Nazarova The Hidden Track Learn more Vladimir Medvedev Zahhak Learn more Nataliya Meshchaninova Stories of a Life Learn more Yana Lett Preparators. The Hawk’s Calling. Book 1 Learn more Sergey Kuznetsov Living and All Grown Up Learn more Sergey Kuznetsov The Round Dance of Water Learn more Sergey Kuznetsov The Meat Grinder Learn more Alla Gorbunova Ings & Oughts Learn more Alla Gorbunova Another Matter Learn more Lena Eltang Blackberry Shoot Learn more Lena Eltang The Stone Maples Learn more Lena Eltang The Other Drums Learn more Lena Eltang Cartagena aka The Gardener Is Gone Learn more Sveta Dorosheva Shanghai Chronicles: an Artist’s Journey Learn more Sveta Dorosheva How to Handle a Child Learn more Sveta Dorosheva The Land of Stone Flowers aka The Nenuphar Book Learn more Denis Bushlatov The Captain Learn more Denis Bushlatov He Who Never Sleeps Learn more Narine Abgaryan People Who Are Always with Me Learn more Narine Abgaryan Manunia Learn more Narine Abgaryan Three Apples Fell from the Sky Learn more Narine Abgaryan Simon Learn more Narine Abgaryan Go on Living Learn more Sona Abgaryan The Old Woman and Her Goats aka Eva Learn more Ludmilla Petrushevskaya There Once Lived a Girl Who Seduced Her Sister’s Husband, and He Hanged Himself: Love Stories Learn more Ludmilla Petrushevskaya There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill her Neighbors’ Baby Learn more Ludmilla Petrushevskaya Number One, or in the Gardens of Other Possibilities Learn more Ludmilla Petrushevskaya Kidnapped. A Story in Crimes Learn more Ludmilla Petrushevskaya The Little Girl From the Metropol Learn more Ivan Philippov Mouse Learn more Ivan Philippov The Shadow Learn more Konstantin Zarubin New Science Fiction From L. Learn more Konstantin Zarubin The Russian Heart Beats For All Learn more Mikhail Shishkin Letterbook aka The Light and the Dark Learn more Katerina Gordeeva Take My Grief Away Learn more Liubov Barinova Eve Learn more Daniel Berger Soviet Demons and Other Beasts Learn more

The Land of Stone Flowers aka The Nenuphar Book Author Sveta Dorosheva Full English translation available Request manuscript Download sample Download sales sheet The Land of Stone Flowers aka The Nenuphar Book is a book about people written by fairies, dwarfs, elves and other fairy-tale creatures. It was found in a water lily under mysterious circumstances (hence the name). The whole book is a collection of evidence by fairy creatures proving that people exist. Bursting with intricate and evocative illustrations, The Nenuphar Book creates a world of fantasy and fable that slyly reveals many hidden truths about human existence. It’s a book about people and human world, as seen through the eyes of fairy-tale creatures. They don’t generally believe in people, but some have traveled to our world in various mysterious ways. Such travelers collected evidence and observations about people in this book. It’s an assortment of drawings, letters, stories, diaries and other stuff about people, written and drawn by fairies, elves, dwarfs and other fairy personalities. These observations may be perplexing, funny and sometimes absurd, but they all present a surprised look at the things that we, people, take for granted. Each chapter is written by a different creature – elf, fairy, dwarf, ogre, giant, witch, etc. It comprises such topics as human anatomy, types and origin of people, magic human things and dwellings, language, beliefs, rituals, work, music, dance, and many more. Some observations are odd, some awfully inaccurate, some – plain funny, but they all weave together into a tongue-in-the-cheek playful picture of a world so incredibly odd to an outsider, that it’s no wonder fairy creatures can’t believe in it! This is a series of book illustrations that presents an attempt of fairy-tale creatures (who don’t believe in people) to understand what a man is, based on testimonials of people themselves (quotes by famous people on the nature of man). The resulting impression is rather perplexing. With her imaginative illustrations, Sveta is overlapping philosophy and literature, creating her own fictional narrative in the form of fairy tale, whilst actually defining many truths about human nature. Selected quotes Additional info After reading Nenuphar Book , you’ll come away with a new appreciation for the magical world, for your own world, and for your place in it. And you’ll learn to laugh a bit more at yourself and those around you. You may even start believing in magic. Magic that is invented in our minds and made real by our words and our pens. Magic that adds life to the human experience. Magic that touches even people like me who are strongly rooted in logic and objective truth... In the end, all I can say is, “Wow! This book is a masterpiece.” – GeekDad/GeekMom Ukraine-born artist Sveta Dorosheva has been dedicated to creating some of the most beautiful book illustrations I have ever laid eyes on. <…> The Nenuphar Book , one of Dorosheva’s many graphic jewels, is a book about a world in reverse, where humans are Todorov’s so-called paper beings, while fairytale creatures shiver under their blankets in fear of our mysterious ways. Starting as a completely different project, that is a catalogue of fairies, it came to be an entire chronicle on humans as seen by fairy-tale creatures. The book looks inquisitively at the abstract mechanisms of love and hate and money, our daily habits and their rationale, if any, and our origins. The lacunae are of course filled with fantasy – since seen from afar, humans seem powerful beyond measure and their lives unknowable. – Andreea Saioc, The Global Panorama Sveta Dorosheva‘s fantastical art could be compared to a brilliant dream collaboration among noted artists, for whom the goal is a visionary book of enchanted tales. Imagine an artistic hybrid comprised of the intricately-lined illustrations of Harry Clarke or Aubrey Beardsley, the luxurious art deco magnificence of Romain de Tirtoff (Erté) fashion plates, and the beautiful-on-the-verge-of-grotesque visages drawn by the enigmatic Alastair. But! In this imaginary scenario, the artists realize there is something... some je ne sais quois... missing from their efforts. They entice illustrator Sveta Dorosheva to join their endeavors: she flits in, and with a mischievous smile and a gleam of amusement in her eye, announces “yes, yes, this is all very beautiful... but let’s make it FUN!” – Coilhouse Her illustrations take me back to childhood being in love with fairytales and knowing there was infinite possibility for imagination in the world ahead. – Cupcake Punk Book details Azbooka Graphic novel, 2015 216 pp Rights sold World English Chronicle Books French under offer Romanian Baroque Books Japanese Maar-sha Publishing Simplified Chinese Beijing United Creation Arabic Egyptian Office For Publishing & Dit. Albanian Fan Noli Serbian Dereta Complex Chinese (Taiwan) Azoth Books Czech Omega Literary awards

Mouse Author Ivan Philippov Moscow zombie apocalypse Request manuscript Download sample Download sales sheet A blood-curdling quest to escape zombie apocalypse in 2020 Moscow, after Putin’s immortality experiment goes awry. In 2020, an infected mouse escapes from the Institute of Functional Immortality, where technology for Putin's immortality is being developed. This results in a devastating zombie apocalypse that sweeps through Moscow, leaving behind a trail of destruction and death. Millions of people die, becoming zombies. The infected have heightened senses of hearing and smell, but their vision and motor skills are severely impaired, which makes an escape possible, if far from easy. The story follows three different groups of characters: Seva (15) and Kostya (10), two brothers trapped in their apartment, their parents killed, looking for a way to get out of town; Asya, a girl dressed in a full-length costume of a pink mouse, who is also trying to escape the city and return to her hometown, finding romance along the way against all odds; and the 80-year-old doctor of biological sciences, Lavr, and his prison guard, Tonya, stuck in a paddy outside the prison, where Lavr is kept on charges of treason. The three groups set off from different parts of town heading in the same direction as they try to escape the city. The story unfolds through the three parallel narratives, each group facing various dangers and challenges. As we follow their journeys through devastated Moscow, they will get to visit the Pushkin museum, escape from a deranged cannibal, walk through the metro tunnels, climb the rooftops and hijack a train. Eventually, they all converge in the final chapter, where their paths cross and their fates are intertwined. The novel ultimately explores the themes of survival, hope, and human connection in the face of adversity, all while providing a sharp social critique of contemporary politics through its satirical depiction of the brutal deaths of well-known political figures. Selected quotes Additional info The book is a captivating and uncompromisingly genre-true read that keeps the reader hooked until the very end, while undoubtfully authentic in its depiction. From the city's toponymy to restaurant interiors, electric train management technology, and the interior design of the Pushkin Museum's rooms, everything is precise, true, and recognisable. This authenticity transforms reading into a pleasure that rivals watching a blockbuster. A very timely book. I wish millions of fellow citizens would read it. It's an outstanding ingredient in the vaccine against rabies. — Alexander Rodnyansky, a Ukrainian producer with four Oscar nominations in the Best Foreign Film category This is a right book in these hard times. There’s much heroic in the text, as the genre requires. And we need heroism today. Moreover, there are many Dostoevskian descriptions of streets, buildings, and even metro stations in the text. To me, who desperately misses Moscow, it was intriguing to read about the city, even if it is being demolished in the book. — Dmitry Nizovtsev, an independent journalist Book details Freedom Letters Novel, 2024 277 pp Rights sold French (under offer) Estonia Sinisukk (auction) Literary awards

Go on Living Author Narine Abgaryan Over 70,000 copies sold Full English translation available Request manuscript Download sample Download sales sheet Narine Abgaryan’s collection of short stories Go on Living poses the simplest yet hardest question about how, in the aftermath of terrible tragedy, people learn to live, love and hope anew, while cherishing the memories of the loved ones lost. Set in the picturesque village of Berd, the collection traces the interconnected lives of its inhabitants, seemingly unremarkable villagers who go on about their lives, tending to their daily tasks, engaging in their quotidian squabbles, and celebrating small joys amid a luscious, beautiful local landscape. Yet their seemingly unremarkable existence in a setting imbued with a deliberate sense of being suspended in time and space belies an unspeakable tragedy: every character in Agbaryan’s stories must contend with the unbearable burden of loss that they have suffered during the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the early 1990s. The war itself rages largely off the book’s pages and appears only in small and fragmented flashbacks, and Abgaryan’s stories focus instead on the war’s aftermath, portraying the different ways in which the survivors work, as individuals and as a community, to find a way forward. For some, the toll is a psychological one, as the opening vignette introduces the reader to Zanazan, a beautiful young woman who has lost her unborn child, her husband, and her ability to speak to enemy shelling, and who now lives in the care of her elderly mother-in-law. The middle-aged Metaksia visits her stepson’s grave and chats with him as if they were sitting across from each other at a dinner table. Agnessa, whose ill-fated desire to keep her daughter warm in a bomb shelter has cost her not only her own limbs but also the life of her child finds love and a chance at redemption with a new family. Lusine, who barely recalls her mother, abducted and brutally murdered by the enemy, receives, as an engagement present, the last surviving rug woven by her mother. Anichka, whose entire family has been brutally murdered, forges a platonic relationship with a widower whose son has been left incapacitated by yet another act of senseless violence. The characters in Abgaryan’s book have lived through unimaginable loss, but their sadness is described as cathartic, engendering hope where all hope must be lost. The book, set up as 31 interconnected short stories, has no single protagonist; instead, the book is centered around the resilience of the human spirit and its ability to soar above. Written in Abgaryan’s signature prose style that weaves elements of Armenian folkloric tradition into its prose, the book simultaneously mourns and celebrates human life. Selected quotes Additional info US publication by Plough is expected spring 2025 One of the short stories, Hunger , was published in Plough Literary Magazine in 2024 Over 6500 copies sold in Bulgaria Book details AST Novellas, short stories, 2014 280 pp Rights sold World English Plough Bulgarian Labirint Armenian Newmag Publishing Hungarian Typotex Kiadó Romanian Humanitas Czech Prostor Literary awards

Our Authors A B D E G K L M N O P R S V Z Yana Lett Ludmilla Petrushevskaya Arthur Bondar, Ksenia Buksha Ekaterina Manoylo Kirill Ryabov Narine Abgaryan Sveta Dorosheva Vladimir Medvedev Mikhail Shishkin Liubov Barinova Daniel Berger Elena Avinova, Natalia Osipova Konstantin Zarubin Nataliya Meshchaninova Svetlana Satchkova Yana Vagner Alla Gorbunova Katerina Gordeeva Dina Rubina Eugene Vodolazkin Lena Eltang Sergey Kuznetsov Tatsiana Zamirovskaya Denis Bushlatov Edward Reznik Eduard Verkin Ivan Philippov Marina Stepnova Sona Abgaryan Valentina Nazarova

< Back to Authors Ivan Philippov Download sales sheet Ivan Philippov, born in 1982 in Moscow, is a Georgia-based writer, journalist, film executive and co-host of a popular podcast. Ivan graduated from a History Faculty of Moscow State University and for seven years worked as a reporter, starting in the news and graduating to writing about entertainment and media industry for «Vedomosti» at the time a joint-venture of Wall Street Journal and Financial Times. Among many stories published by Ivan Philippov at that time were one on one interviews with public figures from Sheldon Adelson and Bob Iger to Jerry Bruckheimer. After leaving «Vedomosti» Ivan Philippov joined Alexander Rodnyansky’s CTC Media as the head of corporate PR. For the past 15 years Ivan worked for Mr. Rodnyansky as a creative executive in his US film company AR Content. As a journalist Ivan Philippov wrote for many Moscow-based publications, including Forbes, GQ and Esquire. Leaving Russia in the first weeks of war for Tbilisi, now he writes for independent Russian media Holod and his op-eds were published in The Guardian in 2022 and 2023. On his popular Instagram account and Telegram-channel Ivan Philippov writes about modern television and notable TV-series and he co-host «Previously on» — the most popular podcast in Russian language on the same subject with Elizaveta Surganova. In the second year of war Ivan Philippov started a telegram channel «All is Quite on a Western Front», which analysed Russian war propaganda - hundreds of various military channels - on Telegram. «All is Quite on a Western Front» quickly became a sensation among Russian independent media, with Ivan giving dozens of interviews and comments per week and the channel recently passed 65 000 subscribers, out of which 30% read the publications in English. On invitation from jailed Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin, Philippov gave a guest-lecture on the Russian society and war through the eyes of military propaganda that gathered over 400 thousand views. As a founder of the «All is Quite on a Western Front» channel and an expert on Russian war-propaganda Ivan Philippov gave comments and interviews to German Deutsche Welle, Die Welt, Tagespost and Der Spiegel, Swedish television STV, Swiss Le Temps and was a subject of a profile by the Danish newspaper Berlinske. Ivan Philippov published three books, including a non-fiction about the golden age of modern television and the best TV-shows of the past two decades; his debut novel The Shadow, successfully adapted for audio series by Storytel Original and longlisted for the National Bestseller Prize in the year of publication; and the most recent, Mouse, a Moscow zombie apocalypse. He lives with his family in Georgia. Selected reviews Additional info Selected books Bibliography 2024 — Mouse , novel 2022 — The Shadow , novel 2020 — In the Next Episodes, non-fiction Literary awards Longlisted for the National Bestseller prize 2022

Letterbook aka The Light and the Dark Author Mikhail Shishkin Full English, French, German translations available Awarded Premio Strega Europeo 2022 Request manuscript Download sample Download sales sheet The internationally prize–awarded writer, Mikhail Shishkin, comes with a beautifully sad and bewitchingly lucid epistolary novel. The stories of two lovers told through their love letters through continents and epochs intertwine in an elaborate text about mysteries of life, acceptance of death, and, ultimately, about grasping the eternity. This latest novel by Mikhail Shishkin is deceivingly simple. A man. A woman. Their love letters. A summer house, the first love. Vladimir — Vovka–carrot–top — and Alexandra — Sashka; he goes to war, she stays at home, living an ordinary life. Two people writing each other just about everything — their childhood, families, trifles of life, joys and sorrows — what could be more normal? Until we get to know things are not what they seem. The deeper readers emerge into the writing the more obvious it becomes that the time has been disunited, dissected and tossed together as in a children nonsense rhyme. The time is indeed out of joint and only these letters bind it together restoring the world’s order. She lives in the 60s, he goes to the Boxers uprising in China at the turn of the twentieth century. He dies in the very first battle of this half– forgotten war of his own choosing (“What war? Doesn’t matter. A war has always been. And will always be. And people get injuries and killed. And death is real”) — but his letters continue to arrive. She gets married, carries and loses a child — and keeps writing to him as if these letters exist in a parallel universe, as if time doesn’t matter — and neither does death. This is a novel about the mysteries of life — and acceptance of death. Shishkin is loyal to articulating his principle: the written word is the key, and so is love. “To exist you have to live not in your own mind that is so unreliable... but in the mind of another person, and not just any person but the one who cares if you exist”. Shishkin’s sophisticated language and intricate style have won him major international literary awards and comparisons to the greatest authors of our time — and Letterbook firmly confirms this well–deserved reputation. Selected quotes Additional info Shishkin is arguably Russia’s greatest living novelist... his writing is richly textured and innovative and his themes are universal: love and death, pain and happiness, war and peace... Shishkin’s writing is both philosophically ambitious and sensually specific, evoking the rain on a dacha roof, the smell of blossoming lime trees, or the stink of human corpses. — The Guardian Whatever the secret of the time scheme, and however magic–realist or metaphysical it might be, it contributes to the book’s powerful treatment of love and the vividness of being alive, underscored by the reality of ever–present morality — Shishkin is a writer with a compelling sense of the skull beneath the skin. — The Sunday Times There is a lyrical, poetic quality to much of Shishkin’s writing... This is certainly the most complicated, protean book I’ve ever reviewed and one jammed with cultural allusions and ideas. — Standpoint Magazine Shishkin’s prodigious erudition, lapidary phrasing and penchant for generic play are conspicuous components of his art... These charactersitics do indeed ally him with Nabokov, as he does have faith in the written word... And yet, unlike Nabokov, Joyce and many of their postmodern acolytes, Shishkin is unabashedly and unironically sentimental. — Times Literary Supplement Mikhail Shishkin is the Ian McEwan of Russia. A prize–winning writer who enjoys stunning commercial and critical success, he’s also a literary celebrity in a country that still knows how to celebrate its author– heroes. His latest novel, The Light and the Dark , in its brilliant translation, is striking proof that great Russian literature didn’t die with Dostoevsky. A wonderful book: it is filled with wonder. — Monocle Magazine It really does not matter if the lovers have ever met in person. The only witness who counts is the author — or, more precisely, his prose. — The Independent Striking... [Vladimir and Alexandra’s] tales cohere into a portrait of Russians growing up too soon, enlisted in causes not their own, exemplified by Sashenka’s belief in a second, disobedient self who lives out the dreams she can’t. — Publishers Weekly Book details Elena Shubina Publishing (AST) Novel, 2010 412 pp Rights sold World English Quercus Italian Lettera 21 German DVA French Noir sur blanc Spanish Armaenia Japanese Shinchosha Dutch Querido Finnish WSOY Finnish audioplay YLE Norwegian Oktober Swedish Ersatz Danish Batzer & Co Faroe Sprotin Icelandic Bjartur Serbian Paideia Croatian Naklada Ljevak Macedonian Antolog Czech Vìtrné mlýny Slovakian Slovart Polish Noir sur Blanc Lithuanian Vaga Latvian Jumava Estonian Varrak Romanian Curtea Veche Hungarian Cartaphilus Simpified Chinese Hunan People Publishing House Arabic Arab Scientific Publishers Albanian Fan Noli Turkish Jaguar Hebrew Kinneret Estonian Varrak Literary awards Premio Strega Europeo 2022 Shortlisted for the Leipzig Book Fair Prize 2013 The Big Book Award 2011 Haus der Kulturen der Welt International Literature Award 2011

Maidenhair Author Mikhail Shishkin Over 100,000 copies sold English, French, German translations available Request manuscript Download sample Download sales sheet “ Maidenhair is a kind of book they give Nobel prize for. This novel is majestic ...” — this quote from Bookshelf Magazine is just a small fraction of praise the book has received in Russia, and rightly so. It is a brilliant novel that unquestionably belongs with the greatest works of Russian literature. It’s universal at its core — and not only because the action takes place across countries and historical epochs, virtually destroying boundaries. The whole novel is a metaphor of a resurrection of the soul — through the word. And through love. The story begins in Switzerland — the narrator works at the local immigration office interpreting interviews with Russian refugees seeking asylum. They all tell stories — some came to Zurich from Chechnya, others from orphanages, some lost their houses in the war, or had parents murdered in front of their eyes, or were raped in prison with a mop handle, tortured, persecuted... They tell these stories for one reason, to stay. One horrid story follows another, in a chain of endless questions and answers,. We don’t know what’s true and what’s not any more but at the end it really doesn’t matter whether it’s really happened to them or not — it’s enough to know that the stories are true. Now they have a chance to re-write their lives, to get a new beginning, to find their new true selves. The interpreter becomes the only link between the two worlds, the gatekeeper to the better life. Their lives will lead to their deaths. Unless he redeems them. Once again, with a word. Between the interviews the interpreter writes letters to his son addressing him as Emperor Navuhodonozaur — letters that will never be sent, describing his life as a servant of the “Swiss Paradise Ministry of Defense.” He remembers his past, reviving and reliving the story of his doomed love, which resonates with other great love stories of world literature — Daphnis and Chloe, Tristan and Isolde. In the meantime he reads Anabasis by Xenophon about the Persian expedition. And since the written word has the power to revivify the past, it is today that the Greek mercenaries retreat to the sea, march though the deserts and towns, cross over rivers — and meet a group of Chechenian refugees who come down from the mountains, having sworn that they’d rather die than surrender to the Russians. Time becomes irrelevant, their meeting seems only natural, and so the Greeks and the Chechenians continue their journey together. Interviews, letters, memories, love stories, Greeks, Chechenians are linked in a single chain of events and human destinies, interwoven, resonating with one another, outside of time. Another distinctive voice in this chorus of voices is a fictional diary of Bella, or Isabella Yurjeva, a Russian romance singer, notorious beauty and socialite that the main character uses to write her biography — or to bring her back to life as he interprets his task. It’s nothing more than a girl’s private diary where she describes her childhood, her love affairs, her success, her ups and downs — but somehow it manages to depict a hole era from the pre-Soviet times till this day through the events of her 100-year long life. In Maidenhair Shishkin demonstrates utter proficiency in various styles and manners of speech. The main character’s line of work is by no means accidental — his interpreting skills are a metaphor for omniscience — and the real meaning of a Word — thus his almost obsessive desire to find the tomb of Saint Cyril, the creator of the Cyrillic alphabet, while in Rome. This is the alphabet of which his universe is made. The world is magic only because its story can be told. It’s unpredictable and erratic, but what once existed will exist for ever. In the word. Maidenhair is in many ways an autobiographical novel. Just like his main character, Mikhail Shishkin worked as an interpreter at an immigration agency. Selected quotes Additional info A beautiful, powerful and fascinating book which will become a milestone not only in the history of Russian literature but in the development of Russian self-awareness. — Bakhyt Kenzheyev, Nezavisimaya gazeta The first reading of Maidenhair is like tipping the pieces of a 1000-piece jigsaw out of the box and turning them all picture-side up . . . — Slightly Booklist In short, Maidenhair is the best post-Soviet Russian novel I have read. Simply put, it is true literature, a phenomenon we encounter too rarely in any language. — Daniel Kalder, The Dallas Morning News Maidenhair is a great novel about a word and a language that becomes soft and obedient in the hands of a Master. It can create any other reality which will be more stunning and credible that the real world. The gap between a word and a fact, between reality and its translation to the human language is a real hotbed of internal tension in the novel. — Maya Kucherskaya, polit.ru Maidenhair is likely a work of genius. . . . If Shishkin is right about the power of words to resurrect the dead, Maidenhair has all but secured his immortality. — Christopher Tauchen, Words Without Borders Meanwhile, Shishkin’s work is not at all a philological novel for a literary coterie or a boring high brow read that reminds one of lapped milk. Although very different from Pavic’s works, it could become just as famous. — Time Out Maidenhair is a kind of book they give the Nobel prize for. The novel is majestic. — Knizhnaya Vitrina Book details Vagrius, 2005 Elena Shubina Publishing (AST), 2011 Novel, 479 pp Rights sold English US Open Letter English UK Quercus Books Danish Batzer & Co Swedish Ersatz Estonian Varrak Norwegian Forlaget Oktober Greek Metaichmio Slovenian DSP German DVA French Fayard Italian Voland Edizione Serbian Paideia Bulgarian Fakel Simplified Chinese People’s Literature Lithuanian Vaga Polish Noir sur Blanc Romanian Curtea Veche Arabic Al Mada Albanian Dituria Spanish Impedimenta Literary awards Halpérine-Kaminski Prize for the Best Translation 2007 (France) Shortlisted for Giuseppe Berto Prize 2007 (Italy) Grinzane Cavour Prize 2007 The Big Book Award 2006 Shortlisted for Bunin Literary Award 2006 Shortlisted for Andrei Belyi Literary Award 2006 The National Bestseller Prize 2005 The Best Foreign Book of the Year of the 21st Century (China)

People Who Are Always with Me Author Narine Abgaryan 150,000 copies sold Full French translation English sample available Request manuscript Download sample Download sales sheet People Who Are Always with Me is a story of several generations of one family told through thirteen novellas through the eyes of a child. This is the story of people who have gone through hardships but managed to preserve kindness, humanity and love in their hearts. It is not so often that you come across books that give you goosebumps, lulling with a leisurely narration of the simplest things that surround us every day. The novel People Who Are Always with Me is just that, giving a positive charge and faith in the best. In fact, Narine Abgaryan wrote an autobiography – a story about a little Girl, next to whom there is a large family, close-knit, ready to support and hide from adversity, to point the right way. The novel People Who Are Always with Me is a world, through the eyes of a child, unclouded by problems and hardships, colorful and bright. This child already knows what life and death are, but perceives it as regularities, knows how cruel human rumor can be, which can easily lead to hatred. But the Girl is in no hurry, because the whole world belongs to her and offers her thousands of roads. Narine Abgaryan draws touching pictures from childhood: a trip to the mountains, a wedding, admonitions from adults. All these incidents are viewed through the prism of the child’s worldview, conclusions are drawn, remembered in order to one day be in demand in a future life. The narrative sometimes jumps from place to place, returns to continue what was started, but this does not prevent the reader from absorbing the beautiful and warm story of the Girl’s life. It is good to read such a novel on a rainy autumn evening, wrapped in a blanket, but to feel a different warmth – the warmth of Narine Abgaryan’s soul, the warmth of a long-gone childhood. This book is infinitely comfortable, able to heal mental wounds, relax and pacify. Such works must be read in order to remember what spiritual beauty is, what the beauty of the world around us is, which we begin to forget about in our endless haste and pursuit of ghosts. Stop for a moment and plunge into the world of childhood with the novel People Who Are Always with Me . It is addressed to a wide audience of readers, regardless of age and literary preferences. Selected quotes Additional info Abgaryan’s warmth in portraying everyday twentieth-century reality, such as it is, in Berd, Armenia, feels like a unique form of writerly magic. — Lizok’s Bookshelf Book details AST Novel/Novellas, 2014 280 pp Rights sold French Macha Publication (now available) Bulgarian Labirint Armenian Oracle Lithuanian Balto Macedonian Muza Slovak Artforum Literary awards

Three Apples Fell from the Sky Author Narine Abgaryan Over 300,000 copies sold worldwide Full English & French translations available Request manuscript Download sample Download sales sheet Marquez’ all times classic epic One Hundred Years of Solitud e meets Sergei Parajanov’s Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors in this memorable fable about a small decaying Armenian village lost on the Manish Kar mountain top. The title of the novel – Three Apples Fell from the Sky – refers to a typical ending of Armenian fairy-tales: “three apples fell from the sky: an apple for the one who watched, another for the one who told the story, and the third one for the one who listened.” The novel, too, resembles a fable. Its heroes are several families living in a decaying mountain village. The village’s only connections with the lowland are an old wire telegraph and a hardly visible road that even cows thread with difficulty. Part weirdoes, part naggers, the village’s few remaining inhabitants – a dozen of elderly people – share one thing in common: they believe in magic. Love and pain, vengeance and forgiveness, friendship and feud tensely knot the lives of the villagers together through generations. There’s Anatolia, the last from the village’s oldest family, having survived after a great famine. A rare beauty and a book lover, Anatolia would suffer from the ravage attacks of her husband, who fled the village after he nearly beat his wife to death. There’s a blacksmith Vasily, a widower, who had lost his three sons and the younger brother in the WWII. The same younger brother, who had saved the village from the imminent destruction in the landslide, thanks to a unique foreseeing girl. There’s a healer Yasaman, Anatolia’s friend and neighbor, who treats all villagers with self-prepared herb mixtures. There’s even a white peacock whose miraculous appearance in the village in the time of the big famine will only be explained at the novel’s end. Readers follow the mundane routine of the old people’s lives – them making baklava, baking cakes, gathering crops, doing house chores – and get familiar with their life stories weaving into a slow-paced yet fascinating fable of a village that faces an imminent ending. When one true miracle changes everything – a 58-year-old Anatolia knows that she bears a child... Narine Abgaryan brilliantly captures the local life’s oddness, its striking beauty and an underlying melancholy. With a sumptuous visual imagery, a close eye for the petty local details, Abgaryan pictures the world where a reader wishes to linger long after the story ends. Selected quotes Additional info A magical realist story of friendship and feuds. – The Guardian Abgaryan impresses with finely phrased descriptions of daily activities and homes with “chimneys that clung to the hem of the sky,” and indelible details of complex, humble characters. This magical tale transcends familiar mystical tropes with its fresh reimagining of Armenian folklore. — Publishers Weekly A charming novel... [It] teems with minor characters whose quirks are at times amusing and at times heartbreaking... A warm-hearted story about family, friendship, and community. — Foreword Reviews Abgaryan’s folktale [is] so improbably of the moment... [her] leisurely, painstaking prose – in Hayden’s lyrical translation – is an added gift for readers at the moment, because it prompts us to adjust to the “measured pace of existence” that is now also our own. — Asymptote Journal A superb novel... I urge you to read it. — Ma Lecturothèque (France) Abgaryan’s work conveys a deep belief in the resilience of humanity without glossing over the horrors of human conflict. — meduza.io A poignant, bittersweet, fable-like story... The strongest message that shines through this finely translated novel is that resignation need not lead to cynicism. — Asian Review of Books I loved this! A tender and quirky tale of stoicism, resilience and love... The ultimate feel-good story of an unlikely romance and the warmth of a community, drawn with humour, empathy and an earthy, magical charm. — Mary Chamberlain, author of The Hidden At the charming heart of Three Apples Fell from the Sky , pulses the certain knowledge that “it takes a village” – a village to bleed, to weep, and, finally, to laugh and celebrate as one. — Faith Sullivan, author of The Cape Ann and Goodnight, Mr. Wodehouse Abgaryan’s descriptions are beautifully written... I couldn’t put this book down. — Un Univers de Livres blog (France) A quiet song of a novel. A novel that opens and lingers... that sweeps over you like a wave on a beach. — The Book Trail A perfect book for anyone who wants to learn more about Armenia: its customs, its beliefs, traditions and history... A heartfelt, delicate novel. — La Couleur des Mots blog (France) A novel about ordinary life, written with extraordinary sensitivity and tenderness. — Prestaplume (France) A magical novel. It manages to be life-affirming without descending into cheap sentimentality... Abgaryan achieves this challenging balance in part through the beauty of the novel’s prose, which mimics the oral storytelling of myths and legends. — End of the Word blogspot To render the richness of Maran’s culture, translator Lisa C. Hayden confidently navigates the linguistic complexities of this book... Her translation is visual and sensory... Dramatic and humorous. — The Common Abgaryan’s affectionate portrayal of rural rhythms and unlikely romance is an absolute joy. — New European – 30 Great European Books for the Beach Book details AST Novel, 2016 315 pp Rights sold World English Oneworld Publications French Macha Publishing German Ullstein List Italian Brioschi Estonian Tänapäev Bulgarian Labirint Arabic AS Publishers Armenian Newmag Publishing Hungarian Typotex Latvian Janis Roze Malayalam (India) Green Books Czech Prostor Lithuanian Balto Romanian Humanitas Slovakian Artforum Serbian Vulkan Catalan Comanegra Macedonian Muza Simplified Chinese Rentian Ulus Cultural Media Korean Eulyoo Publishing Spanish Editorial Navona Polish Krzysztof Głowinkowski/Glowbooks Swedish Tranan Croatian Hena Turkish Hippo /Aras Ya Portuguese Presenca Sinhala (China) Subhavi Thai Library House Theater rights sold Literary awards Shortlisted for the Big Book Award 2021 Yasnaya Polyana Prize 2016 Nominated for the National Bestseller Prize 2016 The Alexander Green Award 2015 The New Literature Award 2013 (The Best Book for Children) The Russian Literature Prize 2011 Longlisted for the Big Book Award 2011 Manuscript of the Year 2010

My Russia: War or Peace? Author Mikhail Shishkin Originally written in German Full English translation available 35,000 copies sold in Finland (WSOY) Request manuscript Download sample Download sales sheet A unique insight into a foreign mysterious country nearby. Is there a reason to fear Moscow? Could Russia have any reason to distrust the West? How are the tensions between the East and the West fuelled? And could they be solved? The award–winning writer Mikhail Shishkin shares his understanding of Russia and the West and the contrasts and tensions that have been exacerbated for several years. With his deep knowledge of Russia explores how the developments after the era of relaxation and a supposed end of the East–West confrontation could come to the tense current situation. Shishkin’s love for Russia is uncompromised, yet he sharply criticizes Putin's authoritarian rule and the politics of the Kremlin. Personal insights, sharp political analyses, historical overviews make it a crucially important book in difficult times. From the author: “This book is a collection of essays about Russia, written specifically for the western reader. Having lived in Europe for so many years helped me recognize the general misconceptions about Russia and Russians that western people often nourish. This book is for the reader who refuses to accept clichés and platitudes as ultimate truth. This book answers some of the most important “Russian questions”. Why do 21st century westerners travelling the world write about my country as if it were another planet? What is wrong with my country, and why? What is this whole notion of “Russianness”? Why do revolutions and attempts at democratic reforms only lead to new dictatorships? Why can’t the West and Russia reach understanding, after centuries and centuries of war and peace? What does it mean to love Russia? Can one still believe in Russia, as Tyutchev once bequeathed? The essays are devoted to such eternal topics as “the mystery of the Russian soul” (here is a spoiler: there is no mystery, only the lack of knowledge that adds to a mysterious glare); patriotism and tyranny; “Live not by lie” (but neither by the truth); “Neither the church nor the tavern”; “Russian universality” and hybrid wars; writers and power, and many others. The future is a glove, and the past is a hand. This is a book about the future of Russia. Therefore, it has a lot of history. I explain to the Western reader its underwater, deep currents, invisible from the outside, but determining its course. Without this, the present of my country cannot be understood. The last two chapters are devoted to what awaits us in the coming years and in the not so distant future.” Selected quotes Additional info Pleitgen and Shishkin, both sharing a deep knowledge of Russia, duel in a pointed exchange of views of both internal and external sides of things. – Kölner Stadtanzeiger The long– time ARD reporter in Russia and USA and a Russian writer who won every important literary award in Russia, search together for possible ways of handling relations between the West and the East. – Tagesspiegel The mysterious Russia: in his book, Mikhail Shishkin explains the nation that the West fails to understand. – L’Union Sarda From as back as the 19th century the West have considered tsarist Russia as a “prison of people”. In his emotionally charged book, Mikhail Shishkin, revisits this concept and discuss it from the actual modern angle. – La Repubblica Book details Random House, 2019 Essays, German language 384 pp Rights sold World English Quercus Books Italian 21 Lettere Spanish Impedimenta French Noir sur Blanc Spanish Armaenia Polish Noir sur Blanc Lithuanian Vaga Swedish Fri Tanke Finnish WSOY Norwegian Cappelen Damm Estonian SA Kultuurileht Romanian Curtea Veche Slovakian Slovart Croatian Tim Press Japanese Hakusuisha Dutch Querido Czech Prostor Portugal Relogio D'Agua Literary awards