Olga Grushin

Cinderella married the man of her dreams, yet now, two children and 13-1/2 years later, things have gone badly wrong. One night she sneaks out of the palace to get help from the Witch who, for a price, offers love potions to disgruntled housewives.

The Charmed Wife

Follows the life of a woman born in Moscow who leaves for the United States, where she finds happiness and love but must also deal with the ghosts of her youth.

Forty Rooms

After losing his job and the respect of his family, Russian avant-garde artist Anatoly Sukhanov confronts his past in a series of dreams that reveals the sacrifices he has made to gain material wealth in twentieth-century Moscow. A first novel. Reprint. 40,000 first printing.

The Dream Life of Sukhanov

When rumors about an exiled composer's return to Moscow for a farewell symphony spark power abuses among officials and bureaucrats, a disparate gaggle of strangers evolves into a community of friends bonded by long-buried memories and unexpected acts of kindness. By the award-winning author of The Dream Life of Sukanov.

The Line

On any given morning, on the street corners of a Russian city, little kiosks suddenly appear. As soon as their shutters open, a queue forms, men and women lining up in the hope of a little bit of luxury- a pair of silk stockings or a box of chocolates. One morning news spreads that the exiled composer, Selinsky, will be returning to the city for one concert only, and there is one kiosk, somewhere, selling tickets to this most magical event of the year. So begins the story of a family, in which a ticket to Selinsky's concert means everything- for Sergei, the father, it holds the promise of an affair with another woman; for his wife, Anna, it offers the hope of winning back her faithless husband; for their son, Alexander, it means the possibility of escaping to the West. The Concert Ticketis a fabulously told story of love, longing and escape, of beauty in a world of repression, and of a family at the mercy of each other and the times in which they live. 'Olga Grushin has a gift for conveying Russian imagination.' The Indepednent 'Olga Grushin is one of those rare writers that you want to keep as your own, golden secret, but will be compelled to share.' The Lady magazine 'A strange, haunting fable about the longing for beauty and self-expression in a world that has had all the colour bled out of it.' The Times 'a masterpiece of storytelling...... aside from the wonderful plot and deeply drawn characters, there is a richness in Grushin's writing that contains all the senses.' Russian Life 'Grushin's strength lies in spinning vibrant dreamscapes which lift this quietly moving fable about the power of hope.' Amber Pearson, Daily Mail

The Concert Ticket

Kirk Oda

Grushin's stunning debut drew praise that placed her in the top rank of young literary voices. Now she returns with that rarity: a second novel even more dazzling than her first. The line: the universal symbol of scarcity and bureau­cracy that exists wherever petty officials are let loose to abuse their powers. The line begins to form on the whispered rumor that a famous exiled composer is returning to Moscow to conduct his last symphony. Tickets will be limited. Nameless faces join the line, jostling for preferred position. But as time passes and the seasons change and the ticket kiosk remains shuttered, these anonymous souls take on individual shape. Unlikely friendships are forged, long-buried memories spring to life, and a year-long wait is rewarded with unexpected acts of kindness that ease the bleakness of harshly lived lives. A disparate gaggle of strangers evolves into a community of friends united in their desire to experience music they have never been allowed to hear. The Line is a transformative novel that speaks to the endurance of the human spirit even as it explores the ways in which we love-and what we do for love.

A Novel

La cincizeci și șase de ani, Suhanov își contemplă realizările. Este redactorul-șef al unei reviste de artă, căsătorit cu dragostea vieții lui, are un apartament de lux și un raft de cărți publicate. În seara unui eveniment de ținută, o jurnalistă îl acuză de ipocrizie, părere împărtășită de propria fiică. Soția pleacă fără să-l anunțe, lăsându-l fără mașina de lux cu șofer angajat. Iar la ieșire, se întâlnește cu un vechi cunoscut din viața lăsată în urmă cu mulți ani înainte. La redacție, se vede depășit de istorie, anchilozat în militantismul hrușciovian, incapabil să se adapteze la glasnost și perestroika. Toate acestea declanșează în Suhanov o trezire a conștiinței, manifestată prin suprapunerea amintirilor peste prezent, a visului peste realitate, a delirului peste tot mai firavele stări de luciditate. Care este adevărul despre moartea tatălui său? Care a fost momentul în care și-a schimbat crezul și vocația artistică pe un trai confortabil și ascensiune socială? Viața din visele lui Suhanov este un roman politic, un roman despre prietenie și morală, despre artă, dar și un mare roman de dragoste. Iată un roman contemporan atât de bun, încât am simțit nevoia să cumpăr zece exemplare și să le trimit prietenilor... Cu ecouri din Nabokov și Bulgakov, este un strălucit debut în ficțiune, o carte care ne reamintește ce contribuție superbă a avut și încă are tradiția rusă la arta literară, în comparație cu propriul nostru univers literar arid, aflat în cădere liberă. The Independent

Olga Grushin

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