Editor’s Note: The Kyiv Post presents its pick of five contemporary Ukrainian fiction books that have been translated into English. All the translations are available at www.amazon.com.
“The Museum of Abandoned Secrets”
By Oksana Zabuzhko, translation by Nina Shevchuk-Murray
Oksana Zabuzhko’s grand opus and recent International Angelus book award winner was translated into English earlier this year by Lviv-born translator Nina Shevchuk-Murray. Zabuzhko says the language in the translation was too American for the taste of her British readers, “but this was our voluntary choice, we wanted a more widespread version of English,” she said in an interview to glebov.com.ua.
The book tells a story of love, loyalty and family that flows through three generations. The main protagonist, a journalist named Daryna, finds an old photograph that opens up family secrets. The secrets no longer want to stay buried and seem to still have a strong influence on the future. The novel describes the times of the civil war in Ukraine at the beginning of the 20th century and extends to the events of Ukraine’s Orange Revolution in 2004.
Paperback – $8.97
Kindle edition – $6.99
“Hardly Ever Otherwise”
By Maria Matios, translation by Yuriy Tkach
“Hardly Ever Otherwise” is one of the best works by Maria Matios. The book was first translated in English in 2010 by the English-Dutch publishing house Glagoslav, and was republished in 2012 with some corrections.
The novel tells a mystical story of several western Ukrainian families during the last years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that fell apart in the wake of World War I. Just as every story by Matios this novel is highly dramatic and every character is forced to live through various personal and social conflicts.
Paperback – $20.50
Hardcover – $25
Kindle edition – $10.49
“The Case of General’s Thumb”
By Andrey Kurkov, translation by George Bird
Ukrainian whodunit writer Andrey Kurkov has a lot of English translations. One of them, “The Case of General’s Thumb” was translated by George Bird in 1999. The translator was later accused of using “old-school” English, which was not suitable for picturing Ukraine in the 1990s. “For example, an exasperated police chief—in earnest—yells ‘Hell’s bells,’” a book review on wordswithoutborders.org reads.
“The Case of General’s Thumb” is a classic detective story that starts with a military general being hanged on a huge Coca-Cola balloon, his thumb missing. The main protagonist is a young, inexperienced police investigator eager to dig out the truth about the murder.
Paperback – $13.47
“The Moscoviad”
By Yuri Andrukhovych, translation by Vitaly Chernetsky
“The Moscoviad” by Yuri Andrukhovych, a famous writer from Ivano-Frankivsk, was translated by Vitaliy Chernetsky, a writer, historian and translator. Chernetsky has not only translated a novel, but even researched it for his doctoral dissertation. “When I was first reading the story I kind of heard it talking to me, probably because of my own student life experience in Moscow,” he said in an interview to Zaxid.net.
The novel describes the life of a Moscow university dormitory that hosts young poets, writers, actors and translators from everywhere around the world. The adventures of an artistic crowd turn into bacchanal, and at some point, the KGB gets involved. The action is often interrupted by the protagonist’s reminiscences that go back to Ukraine’s medieval history.
Paperback – $12.60
Kindle edition – $11.99
“The Lost Button”
By Irene Rozdobudko, translation by Michael Naydan
The translation of Irene Rozdobudko’s best known work “The Lost Button” has a miraculous story, the writer says. “Michael Nayden, a professor at Princeton University and a great translator, approached me and said he would be translating my novel. He and his assistant-student Olena Tytarenko decided to do it free,” Rozdobudko told Gazeta.ua. The novel was first published in World Literature magazine and then as a book by Glagoslav Dutch-English publishing house.
The novel tells a mysterious love story that lasted only for one night but which never left the heart of the protagonist. And when a young man finally manages to get freed from those strong love bonds he finds a button that revives the feelings.
Paperback – $17.80
Hardcover – $24.70
Kindle edition – $11.97
Kyiv Post staff writer Daryna Shevchenko can be reached at [email protected].
