The Novel of Letters

“If you ever get the idea that everything you’ve experienced so far can be described in words, then know that nothing has happened to you.”

This is how Vovka addresses his Sashenka in one of his letters. He talks about the inadequacy of words. However, he has nothing but paper and a pen in his hands. He tries to bridge the gap that has opened between his own life and “life” with letters. Just like his lover…

Vovka writes from the middle of the war, from the fronts in northern China. His beloved Sashenka tells him about her life, which seems ordinary when viewed from afar – but is far from it – and her own battle for life. As two people far from each other talk about themselves and their pasts, they actually slowly lift the veil over their consciousness. But not only war and separation, but also dislocated time come in between.

The letters of two lovers, each a marvel of fiction, who have no power left other than their imaginations, thus weave a gigantic novel line by line.

The only writer to have been deemed worthy of all three of Russia's most important literary awards, Mikhail Şişkin brings together a great literary tradition with an unparalleled imagination and innovations unique to him.

The Novel of Letters was translated from the original Russian by Erdem Erinç.

(From the Promotion Bulletin)

Dough Type: 1. Dough

Number of Pages : 384

Size : 13x20

First Printing Year : 2017

Number of Printings : 1st Edition