Writer Kseniya Melnik moved with her family from Magadan to Alaska when she was 15. In this collection of short stories, she deftly introduces readers, who most likely are unfamiliar with Siberia — home of the Gulag prison camp system, to the people of the cold and remote city of Magadan in the Russian Northeast. The stories are set in the post-Stalin years, from the 1950s with the Khruschev thaw, through the Brezhnev stagnation and into the age of Glasnost and Perestroika. These are not […]
A journey across Europe and into the past
Nicola Marter has psychometric powers. This means that when she touches an object, she can see glimpses of whoever’s owned it or touched it before. Her grandfather, who escaped from Russia, has the same powers and always admonished her to keep the gift hidden, which she does, even from her boss Sebastian, an eccentric and successful antiquities dealer. Yet when a woman, Margaret Ross, comes to them with a wooden carving which she wants authenticated, claiming that it was once owned by Empress Catherine of […]
Popcultureboy’s 1st #CBR6 Review: You Are One Of Them by Elliott Holt
Kicking off CBR6 with a highly engrossing story of two childhood friends, where one becomes an internationally known symbol for peace at the height of the Cold War tensions before tragically dying in a plane crash. Or does she? The book follows her best friend as she tries to find out the truth about what really happened. If you loved The Americans, you’ll love this. Full review is on my blog here.