Gina Ochsner

One of the residents of a post-Soviet Russia apartment building where a ghost perpetually heckles tenants, Tanya records her dreams of escaping her unfulfilling job, a situation challenged by an unethical assignment and a romantic prospect. By the award-winning author of The Necessary Grace to Fall.

The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight

The Hidden Letters of Velta B.

A collection of short stories introduces the tale of a funeral home owned by Hungarian immigrants who hope to hand over the business to their twin daughters, a husband who hopes a talking bird will re-energize a failing marriage, and others.

People I Wanted to be

“A beautifully spun tale” set in a tiny town in Latvia—“an astonishing alchemy of history, romance, and fable” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Maris was born knowing things: His very large, very special ears enable him to hear the secrets of the dead, as well as the memories that haunt his Latvian hometown. As a boy, he finds himself heir to an odd assortment of hidden letters, from which he would weave a story that could finally expose—and maybe even patch—the holes in the fabric of his family and their town. With humor, heart, and her characteristic “luminous writing [and] affection for her characters,” Gina Ochsner creates an intimate, hopeful portrait of a fascinating town in all its complications and charm. From the onset of World War II through the cold shock of independence, we see how, despite years of distrust, a community can come through love and loss to the joy of understanding (The New York Times). A finalist for the Oregon Book Awards Ken Kesey Award for Fiction, The Hidden Letters of Velta B. is “a captivating novel of secrets, love, and memory . . . This terrific novel knocked me out” (Janet Fitch, author of Paint It Black). “Intimate, vibrant, and richly colored.” —Portland Monthly “A gift on par with Joanne Harris’s Chocolat . . . Quirky, ethereal, hilarious, and sorrowful.” —Shelf Awareness “[An] extraordinary feat of storytelling . . . A spellbinding novel as tough as it is beautiful.” —Helen Simonson, author of The Summer Before the War

Gina Ochsner

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