The Free World

The Free World is the rapturously reviewed comic-tragic first novel from David Bezmozgis, a New Yorker '20 under 40' writer and author of Natasha and other stories, whose work has been shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Giller Prize. 
 
'Terrific ... Combines comic brilliance with a poignant portrait of a family trapped between two worlds'Sunday Times 
 
In the summer of 1978 the Krasnansky family - bickering, tired and confused - arrive in Rome. Alongside thousands of other Soviet Jewish refugees they await passage to a new home in the West. But escaping Communism is not so easy, especially when some of the Krasnanskys insist on bringing it with them. It is harder still when their American sponsor lets them down and they find they're stuck. 
 
What follows is a tragic yet comic tale of reckless brothers and long-suffering sisters, ailing parents and innocent children, of love affairs and criminal liaisons, of a wonderfully troubled family and a perpetually wandering people, and their epic search for a home... 
 
'Superb ... a major new talent'Independent 
 
'Wonderfully uplifting'The Times 
 
'Colourful, sharply funny and deeply moving'Financial Times 
 
'Alternately comic, sharp and sombre ... it's impossible not to be caught up in the tangled web of its unforgettable case'Daily Mail 
 
'A proper novel that bulges and pulses and thrums with life ... I ended up loving it' Observer 
 
'David Bezmozgis projects a sense of ease that is very rare in first novels; he does everything well'Telegraph 
 
David Bezmozgis was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1973 and emigrated with his parents to Toronto in 1980. The Free World was picked as a 'Waterstone's 11' and has been shortlisted for the Giller Prize. His previous book, Natasha and Other Stories, was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, was a New York Times Notable Book of the year, won the Commonwealth Writer's Regional Prize for First Book and has been translated into over a dozen languages.

Terrific ... Combines comic brilliance with a poignant portrait of a family trapped between two worlds

Colourful, sharply funny and deeply moving

Alternately comic, sharp and sombre ... it's impossible not to be caught up in the tangled web of its unforgettable case

A proper novel that bulges and pulses and thrums with life ... I ended up loving it ... The principal tone is wry - mainly comedic, sometimes melancholic, occasionally tragic, ironical, playful, charming ... a rich and occasionally brilliant novel [that] is well worth reading

David Bezmozgis projects a sense of ease that is very rare in first novels; he does everything well

Self-assured, elegant and perceptive ... [his] taut 2004 debut collection Natasha and Other Stories suggested that he might well be of those authors' [Philip Roth and Leonard Michaels] caliber; The Free World goes a long way toward confirming this status

Heavy with the consciousness of time, the inevitability of crises. Bezmozgis has the knack of ending scenes, chapters, especially, at the perfect reverberant moment, plangent or ironic

Delivered in an understated style which can accommodate serious subtext as well as ironical humour ... His portraits of the family circle are neatly rendered and compassionate ... There is no doubt Bezmozgis remains a writer worth monitoring

A wonderful affirmation of the most novelish kinds of virtues ... Bezmozgis choreographs his work beautifully; with a drip-feed of revelations that humanises the characters and undercuts the reader's partial judgements on them ... A Chekhovian tragicomedy; part heartbreaking farce and part risible melancholy ... Like Gary Shteyngart, [Bezmozgis] is brilliantly able to use the former Cold War enemies as foils to each other. Each side is as bad as the other; and the humans are always caught in the middle of the muddle

Quietly astonishing fables of unmistakeable brilliance ... Breathtaking

With a maturity and control far beyond his years, Mr Bezmozgis has produced a captivating and impressive debut. The title story itself is one I will never forget

Passionately full of life ... his literary skills [are] remarkable

He is being described as the new Philip Roth, the new Chekhov ... the hype may not be entirely exaggerated

Scary good ... Not a line or note in the book rings false

A stunning first collection, characterized by a painful honesty and clarity of vision ... Bezmozgis writes with compassion, quietly reminding us of the hidden beauty within human imperfection

David Bezmozgis was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1973 and emigrated with his parents to Toronto in 1980. His previous book, Natasha and Other Stories, was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, was a New York Times Notable Book of the year, won the Commonwealth Writer's Regional Prize for First Book and has been translated into over a dozen languages. In 2010, he was selected as one of the New Yorker's '20 Under 40', celebrating the twenty most promising fiction writers under the age of forty.

'Terrific ... Combines comic brilliance with a poignant portrait of a family trapped between two worlds' Sunday Times 
 
In the summer of 1978 the Krasnansky family - bickering, tired and confused - arrive in Rome. Alongside thousands of other Soviet Jewish refugees they await passage to a new home in the West. But escaping Communism is not so easy, especially when some of the Krasnanskys insist on bringing it with them. It is harder still when their American sponsor lets them down and they find they're stuck. 
What follows is a tragic yet comic tale of reckless brothers and long-suffering sisters, ailing parents and innocent children, of love affairs and criminal liaisons, of a wonderfully troubled family and a perpetually wandering people, and their epic search for a home...

David Bezmozgis

Gripping from the outset, as tightly structured as an intense theatrical experience, this is brilliant writing. Kotler - uncompromising and comprised - is a fascinating, provocative figure

A work of high moral seriousness dispatched with a gripping elegance . . . Bezmozgis's story of fallen saints and redeemed outcasts is, to put it plainly, the work of a great writer

Joshua Ferris, author of 'To Rise Again at a Decent Hour'

Just when we think we've arrived at the heart of the story's moral complexity, Bezmozgis cuts again and lays bare yet another layer . . . one of the foremost writers of his generation

Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Halftime Walk

A compelling tale of reckoning. Bezmozgis is a smart, taut writer . . . His sentences make interesting turns; his dialogue bites; and he brings alive pre-revolutionary Crimea, with its glum post-Soviet citizens and purple Yalta onions for sale by the roadside

A moral thriller . . . Bezmozgis is a magician

Aleksandar Hemon, author of The Lazarus Project

Taut, fierce, forensically insightful . . . explores the frictions between goodness and kindness, public and private virtue, forgiveness and forgetting. Compulsive and profound

Brilliant, deft depictions of love, of memory, of compassion - and, ultimately, despite its title, of loyalty

Edith Pearlman, author of Binocular Vision

A taut, slim book with a stately tone that makes it feel much larger . . . For [a] lively topical discussion of what it means to live a moral life, The Betrayers is just what the doctor ordered

An impressive novel . . . Bezmozgis explores the dynamics of mercy, guilt and repentence

A vivid novel . . . raising questions of integrity, compromise, identity and forgiveness

A brave and ambitious novel . . . The Betrayers suggests that Bezmozgis may potentially be one of the most important writers of his generation

Compelling. Bezmozgis's deft plotting, atmospheric scene-setting and limpid style remain assured. Each page is a gem

Ambitious. Bezmozgis is a fine writer

An impressive novel . . . In unadorned prose, Bezmozgis explores the dynamics of mercy, guilt and repentence

Absolutely gripping. Bezmozgis deftly explores themes of fidelity and morality

Two men meet on a park bench in Jerusalem: a politician, making a controversial stand against his government, and a Mossad agent, sent to dissuade him with the threat of blackmail. Neither backs down. Escaping the furore he's unleashed, the politician and his lover head to Crimea and a resort on the Black Sea to lie low. But the fierce battle between political principles and personal loyalties has followed them, and a shocking encounter awaits them.

David Bezmozgis

Praise for The Betrayers

Gripping from the outset, as tightly structured as an intense theatrical experience, this is brilliant writing. Kotler - uncompromising and comprised - is a fascinating, provocative figure

A work of high moral seriousness dispatched with a gripping elegance . . . Bezmozgis's story of fallen saints and redeemed outcasts is, to put it plainly, the work of a great writer

Just when we think we've arrived at the heart of the story's moral complexity, Bezmozgis cuts again and lays bare yet another layer . . . one of the foremost writers of his generation

Gripping from the outset, as tightly structured as an intense theatrical experience, this is brilliant writing. Kotler - uncompromising and comprised - is a fascinating, provocative figure

A work of high moral seriousness dispatched with a gripping elegance . . . Bezmozgis's story of fallen saints and redeemed outcasts is, to put it plainly, the work of a great writer

Just when we think we've arrived at the heart of the story's moral complexity, Bezmozgis cuts again and lays bare yet another layer . . . one of the foremost writers of his generation

Gripping from the outset, as tightly structured as an intense theatrical experience, this is brilliant writing. Kotler - uncompromising and comprised - is a fascinating, provocative figure

A work of high moral seriousness dispatched with a gripping elegance . . . Bezmozgis's story of fallen saints and redeemed outcasts is, to put it plainly, the work of a great writer

Just when we think we've arrived at the heart of the story's moral complexity, Bezmozgis cuts again and lays bare yet another layer . . . one of the foremost writers of his generation

Books by David Bezmozgis

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