Zuleikha

Description

WINNER OF THE BIG BOOK AWARD, THE LEO TOLSTOY YASNAYA POLYANA AWARD AND THE BEST PROSE WORK OF THE YEAR AWARD

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 READ RUSSIA PRIZE

RUNNER-UP FOR THE EBRD LITERATURE PRIZE, 2020

A multi-prize-winning debut novel from one of Russia’s most exciting new talents

Zuleikha is the model of a dutiful wife. Biddible and meek, she has resigned herself to brutal treatment at the hands of her cruel husband and the carping of her despotic mother-in-law. While Russia reels in the aftermath of its recent revolution, life in her small Tatar village is relatively untouched. Or so it seems to Zuleikha, until the day her husband is executed by communist soldiers.

Zuleikha is exiled to Siberia and forced to leave behind everything she knows. Yet in that harsh, desolate wilderness, she begins to build a new life for herself and discovers an inner strength she never knew she had. This is a supremely ambitious epic about one woman’s determination, not only to survive, but to flourish in the face of the greatest adversity.

Reviews

‘A powerful account of individual lives trapped in one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century.’ ― The Times

‘Yakhina’s prose can be exquisite, especially in sequences such as the one where Zuleikha watches prisoners escaping from the train… It is Zuleikha’s perspective and the way in which she adapts that capture our attention. The unexpected birth of a son.. and her transformation from a passive to a powerful protagonist is one of the joys of Yakhina’s work.’ ― Financial Times

‘Written in a rich and highly visual prose… Zuleikha’s story is one of injustice and pain, but also of a woman’s emancipation and renewal.’ ― Associated Press

‘As we watch its heroine’s existence devolve from an oppressive domestic servitude into something disastrously worse, Guzel Yakhina’s sprawling, ambitious first novel Zuleikha reminds us just how brutal the Soviet system was… Zuleikha does an admirable job of dramatizing a historical period rapidly receding into the forgotten past… Dramatic and eventful, Zuleikha sweeps us into a distant era.’ ― New York Times Book Review

‘Guzel Yakhina’s novel hits the heart. It’s a powerful anthem for love and tenderness in hell.’ ― Ludmila Ulitskaya, author of The Big Green Tent

‘An intimate story of human endurance.’ ― The Calvert Journal

‘While many writers have attempted to comprehend Soviet history’s darkest moment, Yakhina finds a way to make it new.’ ― Russia Beyond the Headlines

‘A forceful, award-winning and debate-sparking debut novel about life in the Gulag… The novel pulsates with tension…a big, bold and fascinating book.’ ― Supamodu

Author Biography

Guzel Yakhina (b. 1977 Kazan, Tatarstan) is a Russian author and filmmaker of Tatar origins. She graduated from the Kazan State Pedagogical University and completed her PhD at the Moscow Filmmaking School. Zuleikha is her first novel.