Mikhail Shishkin’s Maidenhair

Shishkin has won both the National Big Book Prize (2006) and National Bestseller Prize (2005) for Maidenhair, which I am now translating for Open Letter, with publication slated for 2012. The book has also won prizes in France, Italy, and China. My favorite review of the original Russian text comes from Yana Sokolova, “Chitalny zal”: “An unusual novel. Probably, genius.”