Three generations of women battle against the tides of history, from segregated 1950s America to the fall of the USSR and the rise of revolutionary Rojava.

In twelve ‘pristine, entrancing’ (Booklist) linked stories, Ellen Litman introduces an unforgettable cast of Russian-Jewish immigrants trying to assimilate in a new world. Tender and wryly funny, these stories trace Masha's and her fellow immigrants' struggles to find a place in a new society—lonely seniors, families grappling with unemployment and depression, and young adults searching for love.

Married unhappily to a prominent member of her tight-knit Russian immigrant community, vivacious Anna K. engages in a reckless affair with an outsider on whom she has pinned fleeting hopes for freedom, while in a neighboring community, Bukharian-Jewish pharmacist Lev harbors a consuming love for Anna's cousin.

After more than sixty years, The Tin Drum has, if anything, gained in power and relevance. All of Grass’s amazing evocations are still there, and still amazing: Oskar Matzerath, the indomitable drummer; his grandmother, Anna Koljaiczek; his mother, Agnes; Alfred Matzerath and Jan Bronski, his presumptive fathers; Oskar’s midget friends—Bebra, the great circus master and Roswitha Raguna, the...

Ostap Bender, the ‘grand strategist,’ is a con man on the make in the Soviet Union during the New Economic Policy (NEP) period. He's obsessed with getting one last big score?a few hundred thousand will do, and heading for Rio de Janeiro, where there are ‘a million and a half people, all of them wearing white pants, without exception.’ When Bender hears the story of Alexandr Koreiko, an...

The Mighty Angel concerns the alcoholic misadventures of a writer named Jerzy. Eighteen times he's woken up in rehab. Eighteen times he's been released?a sober and, more or less, healthy man?after treatment at the hands of the stern therapist Moses Alias I Alcohol. And eighteen times he's stopped off at the liquor store on the way home, to pick up the supplies that are necessary to help him...

After a brutal attack, Polina can't leave her home—fear and trauma have turned her life into a prison. Her only support in life is her husband, Vlad, who saved her that day and now surrounds her with care and love. But one day, Polina's friend is found murdered: the perpetrator's signature matches her own attack down to the last detail. Vlad urges Polina to remain silent, so as not to...

Fifteen new stories, specially written for the collection, by popular Russian writers: Dmitry Danilov, Alexey Salnikov, Anna Matveeva, Grigory Sluzhitel, Daria Bobyleva, Sergey Shargunov, and many others. – In the wonderful company of contemporary writers, the reader will discover new and recall favorite Moscow routes. – The collection opens with an excerpt from a poem by Dmitry Danilov and...

Having spent 27 years behind the glass walls of his enclosure in a shopping mall, Ivan has grown accustomed to humans watching him. He hardly ever thinks about his life in the jungle. Instead, Ivan occupies himself with television, his friends Stella and Bob, and painting. But when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from the wild, he is forced to see their home, and his art, through new...

In her novel ‘Fear and Obsessions,’ the narrative is nonlinear and multilayered, intertwining real and imagined reality. The protagonist, a writer from St. Petersburg, is traveling to an international conference. Her plane makes an emergency landing at an unknown airport. Unexpected twists and turns give birth to new literary characters in her imagination and evoke long-forgotten events from...

‘You are not respectful enough to your king,’ he said hoarsely, looming over me, ‘and you deserve punishment.’ I ran away from my home to be with my lover. And he lost me at dice. This was the price I paid for my recklessness, a cruel lesson. In a world where lust and passion are the source of power, I became a bargaining chip. There is no justice here, only law, which tries to protect...

The women of Picasso’s life are glamorous and elusive, existing in the shadow of his fame—until 1950s aspiring journalist Alana Olson determines to bring one into the light. Unsure of what to expect but bent on uncovering what really lies beneath the canvas, Alana steps into Sara Murphy’s well-guarded home to discover a past complicated by secrets and intrigue.