The Season of Poisoned Fruits
Novel by Vera Bogdanova
Novel by Vera Bogdanova
ORIGINAL TITLE: Сезон отравленных плодов
ORIGINAL PUBLISHER: AST/Elena Shubina, 2022
347 PAGES
RIGHTS SOLD: French (Actes Sud), Spanish (under offer)
ORIGINAL PUBLISHER: AST/Elena Shubina, 2022
347 PAGES
RIGHTS SOLD: French (Actes Sud), Spanish (under offer)
ENGLISH SAMPLE AVAILABLE
“His voice is as rough as oak bark – it, too, isn’t at all what Zhenya remembers and she suddenly feels uncomfortable about her overalls that are dirt-stained on the knees and about her top, which is faded and too tight, featuring Leo, Kate, and the bow of the sinking Titanic. And about her body, too, which is as dense as a stick of bologna. Her hair’s pulled back in a ponytail, which she knows doesn’t look good on her, because her “monkey ears,” as her father says, are peering out. Zhenya reaches for her hair tie but then has second thoughts and lowers her hand.”
With wit, intelligence, and cutting style, Vera Bogdanova portrays the generation of Russian youth who came of age in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Following the destinies of three cousins, she examines an era marked by political turmoil, the Chechen war, and terrorist attacks, and depicts a youth deceived by the promises of capitalism but struggling to reconcile with the Soviet heritage. A dark and insightful portrayal of the transitional decades from the late 1990s to the early 2010s in Russia, laying bare the roots of today's societal malaise and political crisis.
It all begins in 1995. Zhenia is eleven years old, spending her vacation at her grandmother’s datcha, where her cousin Ilya, who is thirteen, also comes to stay. Five years later, they drink alcohol for the first time, ride motorcycles, try Coca-Cola and go clubbing. Another five years and it’s their first kiss, the certainty that they are meant for each other despite all obstacles. There is also Dasha, Ilya’s younger sister, unloved by a devastatingly beautiful mother “who doesn’t know how to choose men” and who, like too many Russian women, falls victim to domestic violence exacerbated by alcohol.
A candid portrait of an era, The Season of Poisoned Fruits with its many shades of darkness has become a reference for Russian millennials.
It all begins in 1995. Zhenia is eleven years old, spending her vacation at her grandmother’s datcha, where her cousin Ilya, who is thirteen, also comes to stay. Five years later, they drink alcohol for the first time, ride motorcycles, try Coca-Cola and go clubbing. Another five years and it’s their first kiss, the certainty that they are meant for each other despite all obstacles. There is also Dasha, Ilya’s younger sister, unloved by a devastatingly beautiful mother “who doesn’t know how to choose men” and who, like too many Russian women, falls victim to domestic violence exacerbated by alcohol.
A candid portrait of an era, The Season of Poisoned Fruits with its many shades of darkness has become a reference for Russian millennials.
Vera Bogdanova's book is a revelation.
— France Culture
Beautiful and suffocating.
—
Télérama
This novel allows us to better understand today's Russian society.
—
Le Monde
With impressive narrative skill, Bogdanova gradually transforms a provocative coming-of-age story into a relentless critique of her country.
—
Lire
A tale of infinite darkness about patriarchal violence and how it affects all of society.
—
Les Inrockuptibles
The striking face of a Russia from which only sporadic information reaches us.
—
Les Echos