The book
Baba Dunja is a Chernobyl returnee. Together with a motley bunch of former neighbours, they set off to create a new life for themselves in the radioactive no-man’s land. Geiger counter and irradiated forest fruits be damned, there in that abandoned patch of Earth they have everything they need. Terminally ill Petrov passes the time reading love poems in his hammock; Marja takes up with 100-year-old Sidorow; Baba Dunja whiles away her days writing letters to her daughter... rural bliss reigns, until one day a stranger turns up in the village, and the small settlement faces annihilation once again. With her trade-mark wry humour Bronsky tells the story of a community that shouldn’t exist, and of a very unusual woman who late in life finds her own version of paradise.
Praise for Alina Bronsky
“Bronsky lands another hit with this hilarious, disturbing, and always irreverent blitz.” — Publisher’s Weekly starred review, on Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine
“A masterful study in delusion.” — The Financial Times on Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine
“A very good novel.” — The Writes of Woman on Just Call Me Superhero
“Bronsky leads the way in stripping back surface layers to reveal the deeper psychological truths below.” — Lizzy’s Literary Life on Just Call Me Superhero
The author
Alina Bronsky
Alina Bronsky is the author of Broken Glass Park, The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine, named a Publishers Weekly’s Best Book of the Year, Just Call Me Superhero and Baba Dunja's Last Love. Born in Yekaterinburg, an industrial town at the foot of the Ural Mountains in central Russia, Bronsky relocated with her family to Berlin when she was thirteen.
Author's Web site (in German)