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Reading lists

Books to read that tell Ukraine’s stories

The Gardener from Ochakov

When Igor accidentally travels back to 1957, he finds out that the past isn't as rosy as it seems. In fact it's positively dangerous

Kurkov is a master story teller, using a simple lean style for a narrative that reads like a fable or myth, rich in invention, brought to life by the deadpan depiction of local people and local events

Kurkov masters the details superbly, writes with constant consummate wit and soufflé lightness

Some see him as a latter day Bulgakov; to others he’s a Urkanian Murakami… With a characteristic mix of realism and fantasy it [The Gardener from Ochakov] will delight fans… Kurkov combines the mundane details of life in modern Ukraine (minibus taxis, tins of sprats and bottles of moonshine) with surreal elements from thrillers and sci-fi: knife wielding gangsters, or quantum leaps in the midnight suburbs.  The plot rattles along like a Kiev commuter train, regularly stopping for vodka, salami and salted cucumbers…

Quickly becomes an absorbing rollercoaster, an understated fantasy with an unlikely but likeable hero

More than a clash of ages… It’s also a tale about fathers and sons and what they need from each other

Andrey Kurkov, author of Death and the Penguin, has perfected a brand of deadpan magical realism; his latest reads like a mixture of Mikhail Bulgakov and a rejected script for the amiable 1990s sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart. Kurkov’s unadorned style accentuates the narrative’s simple, fable-like quality but The Gardener from Ochakov is thematically rich: one might read it as a reflection on the role of alcohol in Ukrainian society, or the no less pernicious effects of post-Soviet nostalgia

Igor is confident his old Soviet policeman’s uniform will be the best costume at the party. But he hasn’t gone far before he realises something is wrong. The streets are unusually dark and empty, and the only person to emerge from the shadows runs away from him in terror. 
 
After a perplexing conversation with the terrified man, who turns out to be a wine smuggler, and on recovering from the resulting hangover, Igor comes to an unbelievable conclusion: he has found his way back to 1957 Kiev. And it isn’t the innocent era his mother and her friends have so sentimentally described. 
 
As he travels between centuries, his life becomes more and more complicated. The unusual gardener who lives in his mother’s shed keeps disappearing, his best friend has blackmailed the wrong people, and Igor has fallen in love with a married woman in a time before he was born. With his mother’s disapproval at his absences growing, and his adventures in each time frame starting to catch up with him, Igor has to survive the past if he wants any kind of future.

Dispatches From Kiev

Ukraine Diaries

Ukrainian dispatches from the heart of Kiev

Acclaimed author Andrey Kurkov gives powerful insight into life in Kyiv following the 2013 protests and before the 2022 Russian invasion. 
 
-16°C, sunlight, silence. I drove the children to school, then went to see the revolution. I walked between the tents. Talked with rev­olutionaries. They were weary today. The air was thick with the smell of old campfires. 
 
 Ukraine Diaries is acclaimed writer Andrey Kurkov's first-hand account of the ongoing crisis in his country. From his flat in Kyiv, just five hundred yards from Independence Square, Kurkov can smell the burning barricades and hear the sounds of grenades and gunshot. 
 
 Kurkov's diaries begin on the first day of the pro-European protests in November 2013, and describe the violent clashes in the Maidan, the impeachment of Yanukovych, Russia's annexation of Crimea and the separatist uprisings in the east of Ukraine. Going beyond the headlines, they give vivid insight into what it's like to live through - and try to make sense of - times of intense political unrest, on the path to the current crisis.

Andrey Kurkov's Ukraine Diaries offer a unique personal insight into one of the world's most complex trouble spots. The fact that Kurkov lives in the heart of Kiev, and the fact that he can write so well, give an eloquence and immediacy to his account of day to day life in the teeth of a crisis. This is history, with feeling

[Kurkov writes] in the style of an informed but convivial flaneur, and his entries crackle with irony and humour

Controlled rage and wry wit, nicely captured in Sam Taylor’s translation… Kurkov’s diaries are valuable

As his diaries make clear, real life has outstripped his blackly comic fiction for surreal detail, political cynicism and latent menace

The power...lies in the interweaving of the extraordinary and the mundane

What it lacks in first-hand reportage…it makes up for in atmosphere. We learn what the revolution is like not from the point of view of the demonstrators but from the ordinary citizens, who are left to pick up the pieces after the foreign television crews have gone home

[Kurkov’s diaries] seamlessly mix the everyday with the seminal and provide a fascinating guide to how Ukraine has found itself where it is… The prose is charming… I am glad Kurkov will be at the centre of the events as they unfold, ready to distil both tragedy and delight into his pithy, humane prose

Those 500 yards [from Kurkov’s flat to the Maidan] permit Kurkov to take a thoughtful stance towards evolutionary moments, their goals, and the people who come to the fore at such times

-16°C, sunlight, silence. I drove the children to school, then went to see the revolution. I walked between the tents. Talked with rev­olutionaries. They were weary today. The air was thick with the smell of old campfires. 
 
 Ukraine Diaries is acclaimed writer Andrey Kurkov's first-hand account of the ongoing crisis in his country. From his flat in Kiev, just five hundred yards from Independence Square, Kurkov can smell the burning barricades and hear the sounds of grenades and gunshot. 
 
 Kurkov's diaries begin on the first day of the pro-European protests in November, and describe the violent clashes in the Maidan, the impeachment of Yanukovych, Russia's annexation of Crimea and the separatist uprisings in the east of Ukraine. Going beyond the headlines, they give vivid insight into what it's like to live through - and try to make sense of - times of intense political unrest.

The Milkman in the Night

A new masterpiece from the author of the cult classic Death and the Penguin.

'Good-hearted and brutal at the same time, The Milkman in the Night is a complex, unsettling mixture of bleakness and warmth' Sunday Times 
 
Read this eccentric epic from the author of cult classic Death and the Penguin 
 
Semyon is disturbed. He has woken up in the living room with blood on his shirt, an angry wife and no idea where he was the night before. When this happens several mornings in a row, he realises he needs to investigate. 
 
 After his friend Volodka follows him one night, they discover he's meeting a tall, blonde woman and accompanying her to her apartment. In the daytime he doesn't know this woman or where her apartment is and, odder yet, someone is watching Volodka watching Semyon. 
 
 Meanwhile, there are some strange goings-on in Kyiv - an unemployed sniffer-dog handler makes a dangerous discovery, a single mother is providing breast milk for an unusual recipient and a vengeful cat is on the loose...

A glorious, epic, eccentric and often hilarious satire, heavily tinged with Russian melancholy

There is much to enjoy in this book. Kurkov works in the tradition of Nikolai Gogol and Mikhail Bulgakov, blending folkloric characters, magical realism and political satire to reveal a society riddled with greed, stupidity and corruption

Good-hearted and brutal at the same time, The Milkman in the Night is a complex, unsettling mixture of bleakness and warmth

This book is a joyride... Kurkov has a rollercoaster of fun between zig and zag.  He defies the reader not to join him

Set in post-Orange Revolution Kiev, Kurkov's narrative is a meditation on the uneasy dreams of a troubled cultural psyche

Blackly surreal... Kurkov has an artisan's eye for quirky detail but dispatches it with terse Eastern pessimism. Here, he weaves a low-key epic in which a series of characters - a single mother, a sniffer-dog handler, a security guard, a politician, a man having an affair in his sleep, a widow, two cats and a plastinated corpse - become embroiled in a bizarre conspiracy involving a drug that sharpens people's sense of justice and a very dodgy milking operation. It sounds fanciful but Kurkov never gets too caught up in this world, describing it with a pragmatic economy and powerful clarity

Kurkov's imagination kicks into high gear and turns Kiev into an absurdist playground. The result is a whimsical, skewed vision which can be, by turns, delightful and discomforting

Kurkov entices us along all the fault-lines of his bizarre world, where a young man sleepwalks through a double life and a widow notices her embalmed husband has fresh dirt on his unworn shoes

Drugs, milk and a brace of cats pop up in a murky epic from Ukraine's master of the surreal conspiracy thriller

The separate storylines... twine into a bizarre quasi-murder mystery, featuring anti-fear medicine, human milk used as youth serum, corpse embalming, a cat that comes back from the dead and shady government practices.  Ukranian author Andrey Kurkov's direct, unfussy narration is drenched in post-soviet pessimism and alcohol... readers trying to second-guess future twists will be astonished

Andrey Kurkov was born in St Petersburg in 1961. Having graduated from the Kiev Foreign Languages Institute, he worked for some time as a journalist, did his military service as a prison warder in Odessa, then became a film cameraman, writer of screenplays and author of critically acclaimed and popular novels.

Semyon is disturbed. He has woken up in the living room with blood on his shirt, an angry wife and no idea where he was the night before. When this happens several mornings in a row, he realises he needs to investigate. 
 
After his friend Volodka follows him one night, they discover he's meeting a tall, blonde woman and accompanying her to her apartment. In the daytime he doesn't know this woman or where her apartment is and, odder yet, someone is watching Volodka watching Semyon. 
 
Meanwhile, there are some strange goings-on in Kiev - an unemployed sniffer-dog handler makes a dangerous discovery, a single mother is providing breast milk for an unusual recipient and a vengeful cat is on the loose...

A Matter of Death and Life

'Kurkov is hugely talented. Truly very funny' -Time Out

'Kurkov is hugely talented. Truly very funny' Time Out 
 
Marital troubles? Sick of life? Suicide the answer? Why not get yourself a contract killer? 
 
 Nothing easier, provided you communicate only by phone and box number. You give him your photograph, specify when and where to find you, then sit back and prepare to die. 
 
 Murdered, you will be of greater interest than ever you were in life. More to him than met the eye will be the judgement. A mysterious killing lives long in the popular memory. Our hero meticulously plans his own demise, except for one detail: what if he suddenly decides he wants to live?

Kurkov's eye for the absurdities of Ukrainian life is as sharp as ever

Kurkov conjures up both Gogol and Dostoevsky... Genuinely original

Kurkov is a fine satirist and a real, blackly comic find

There's a pleasing conceit at the dark heart of this novella

A dark humorous book that delivers Kurkov's best

Andrey Kurkov was born in St Petersburg in 1961. Having graduated from the Kiev Foreign Languages Institute, he worked for some time as a journalist, did his military service as a prison warder in Odessa, then became a film cameraman, writer of screenplays and author of critically acclaimed and popular novels, including the cult bestseller Death and the Penguin.

Marital troubles? Sick of life? Suicide the answer? Why not get yourself a contract killer? 
 
Nothing easier, provided you communicate only by phone and box number. You give him your photograph, specify when and where to find you, then sit back and prepare to die. 
 
Murdered, you will be of greater interest than ever you were in life. More to him than met the eye will be the judgement. A mysterious killing lives long in the popular memory. Our hero meticulously plans his own demise, except for one detail: what if he suddenly decides he wants to live? 
 
'Kurkov's eye for the absurdities of Ukrainian life is as sharp as ever' - Sunday Telegraph

Penguin Lost

'A darkly comic and offbeat journey. P-p-p-pick it up!' - Scotsman

'Rich, authentic and entertaining' New Statesman 
 
Discover the darkly funny follow-up to cult classic Death and the Penguin 
 
Viktor - last seen in Death and the Penguin fleeing Mafia vengeance on an Antarctica-bound flight booked for Penguin Misha - seizes a heaven-sent opportunity to return to Kiev with a new identity. Clear now as to the enormity of abandoning Misha, then convalescent from a heart-transplant, Viktor determines to make amends. Viktor falls in with a Mafia boss who engages him to help in his election campaign, then introduces him to men who might further his search for Misha, said to be in a private zoo in Chechnya. 
 
 What ensues is for Viktor both a quest and an odyssey of atonement, and, for the reader, an experience as rich, topical and illuminating as Death and the Penguin.

Delicious – when Viktor finally finds Misha it is as if Woody Allen had gone to meet Kurtz

There is more magic in his realism than in a library of witches and wizards

This grotesque post-Soviet world is tinged with Dostoevskian absurdity

Death and the Penguin was praised for its brutal humour, tender humanity and all-out guts. Penguin Lost is a sequel equally superlative and twice as readable

Andrey Kurkov, born in St Petersburg in 1961, now lives in Kiev. Having graduated from the Kiev Foreign Languages Institute, he worked for some time as a journalist, did his military service as a prison warder at Odessa, then became a film cameraman, writer of screenplays and author of critically acclaimed and popular novels.

Viktor – last seen in Death and the Penguin fleeing Mafia vengeance on an Antarctica-bound flight booked for Penguin Misha – seizes a heaven-sent opportunity to return to Kiev with a new identity. Clear now as to the enormity of abandoning Misha, then convalescent from a heart-transplant, Viktor determines to make amends. Viktor falls in with a Mafia boss who engages him to help in his election campaign, then introduces him to men who might further his search for Misha, said to be in a private zoo in Chechnya. 
 
What ensues is for Viktor both a quest and an odyssey of atonement, and, for the reader, an experience as rich, topical and illuminating as Death and the Penguin.

The Good Angel of Death

The Good Angel of Death is a classic, first-rate Kurkov yarn which is sure to delight old and new fans alike.

'Packs a lot of plot into this deadpan satire... Strange and tantalising' Metro 
 
Discover this powerful dark satire from one of Ukraine's most acclaimed authors. 
 
When Kolya moves into a new flat in Kyiv, he discovers an annotated manuscript hidden inside a copy of War and Peace and decides to track down its author, even if it means digging up the grave of a Ukranian nationalist who died in mysterious circumstances. 
 
 An exhumation reveals that an item of great national importance is buried near a fort in Kazakstan so when, during his night shift as a security guard, Kolya is threatened with mysterious phone calls, he sets off on what turns out to be a very bizarre journey. Along the way he meets a host of unlikely characters including Bedouins, ex-KGB officers and a spirit-like companion in the form of a chameleon.

Packs a lot of plot into this deadpan satire... Strange and tantalising

Flits between dark and light exploring the twilight zone between fantasy and reality

Kurkov is hugely talented, truly very funny

Kurkov's style is spare and effective, drawing us with deceptive ease into a dense, complex world full of wonderful characters

[A] hugely enjoyable novel about ethnic Ukrainian totems and allegiances, now translated a decade after it first appeared in Russian

When Kolya moves into a new flat in Kiev, he discovers an annotated manuscript hidden inside a copy of War and Peace and decides to track down its author, even if it means digging up the grave of a Ukranian nationalist who died in mysterious circumstances. 
 
An exhumation reveals that an item of great national importance is buried near a fort in Kazakstan so when, during his night shift as a security guard, Kolya is threatened with mysterious phone calls, he sets off on what turns out to be a very bizarre journey. Along the way he meets a host of unlikely characters including Bedouins, ex-KGB officers and a spirit-like companion in the form of a chameleon. 
 
From the author of cult bestseller, Death and the Penguin.

The Case of the General's Thumb

An international thriller, shot through with black satire and authentic detail, by the author of the highly acclaimed Death &amp; the Penguin.

'Kurkov is a fine satirist and a real, blackly comic, find' Observer 
 
Discover the international thriller, shot through with black satire and authentic detail, by one of Ukraine's most highly acclaimed authors. 
 
When the corpse of a distinguished general and presidential adviser is found, attached to an advertising balloon, lieutenant Viktor Slutsky is sent in to investigate. Meanwhile, KGB officer Nik Tsensky arrives in Kyiv for a secret mission. 
 
 A larger-than-life hitman, bombs under furniture, a hearse, a deaf-and-dumb blonde, a tortoise and a parrot all play a part as Kurkov evokes a world of secret militia not seen before in Western fiction.

An ebullient black comedy... Reminiscent of the best Soviet dissident literature

Full of touches of grim insight and tactful surrealism, with just enough of the absurd to suggest a cross between John le Carre's Smiley and Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita

Kurkov flips from mock-tragedy to comedy and back again, planting the ominous and the absurd neatly among deadpan descriptions of a daily life in denial

Kurkov received universal praise for his debut novel Death and the Penguin... Kurkov's latest is better

When the corpse of a distinguished general and presidential adviser is found, attached to an advertising balloon, lieutenant Viktor Slutsky is sent in to investigate. Meanwhile, KGB officer Nik Tsensky arrives in Kiev for a secret mission. 
 
A larger-than-life hitman, bombs under furniture, a hearse, a deaf-and-dumb blonde, a tortoise and a parrot all play a part as Kurkov evokes a world of secret militia not seen before in Western fiction.

The President's Last Love

A major new novel from the author of Death and The Penguin.

'A bittersweet work, tough and touching at the same time. Kurkov's style is spare and effective, drawing us with deceptive ease into a dense, complex world full of wonderful characters' Michael Palin 
 
A sharp, engaging satire that delves into Ukraine's history. 
 
Moscow, 2013. Bunin, the Ukrainian President, has joined other heads of state in an open air swimming pool to drink vodka and celebrate with Putin. During his rise to power Bunin has juggled with formidable and eccentric political and personal challenges. His troubles with his family and his women combine with his difficulties with corrupt businessmen and demanding international allies, but it is his recent heart transplant that worries him most. Since the operation he has started to develop freckles, and his heart donor's mysterious widow seems to have moved in with him... 
 
 Spanning forty years, The President's Last Love is a hilarious satire on love, lies and life before and after the Iron Curtain.

A bittersweet work, tough and touching at the same time. Kurkov's style is spare and effective, drawing us with deceptive ease into a dense, complex world full of wonderful characters

Inventive, funny and worryingly prophetic

Kurkov sports a double whammy: the fiercest of political intelligences married to a truly surrealistic mindset ... This is an ambitious, multi-layered political black comedy

By turns darkly humorous, sometimes hilarious, particularly when any of his characters bump up against the state and touchingly endearing as his characters struggle through their tribulations

Kurkov's touching and multi-layered satire sheds a surprisingly mellow light on life and lies before and after the iron curtain

Moscow, 2013. Bunin, the Ukrainian President, has joined other heads of state in an open air swimming pool to drink vodka and celebrate with Putin. During his rise to power Bunin has juggled with formidable and eccentric political and personal challenges. His troubles with his family and his women combine with his difficulties with corrupt businessmen and demanding international allies, but it is his recent heart transplant that worries him most. Since the operation he has started to develop freckles, and his heart donor's mysterious widow seems to have moved in with him... 
 
Spanning forty years, The President's Last Love is a hilarious satire on love, lies and life before and after the Iron Curtain.

Andrey Kurkov

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Books to read that tell Ukraine’s stories

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