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IN 1988, NICK VALKO WORKS AS A DOCTOR IN GLASGOW, BUT ALSO TAKES ON THE RESPONSIBILITY OF CARING FOR HIS ALCOHOLIC AND DISORIENTATED FATHER. AS THE ELDERLY MAN RECOUNTS FRAGMENTS OF HIS SOVIET PAST, NICK BEGINS TO CONFRONT A DIFFICULT AND ENIGMATIC REVELATION.
Meadow Fog, Burnt Away by a Red Dawn explores Nick Valko's struggle to untangle the complicated history of his alcoholic father and the reasons for his father's disillusionment with the Soviet Union. Unsure if his father's stories are fantasy or reality, Nick grapples with his father's questionable reliability as he tries to decipher the contradictions and hidden truths within his father's tales. While Nick cares for his ailing father, fragments emerge of the elder Valko's eventful life in Moscow and the Ural forests, revealing his participation in clandestine Soviet experiments that led to his realisation about a challenging truth and drove him to betray his homeland.
Told from Nick's sceptical viewpoint, Meadow Fog, Burnt Away by a Red Dawn unfolds as an adventure, a love story, and a testament to friendship and betrayal against the backdrop of wartime survival. It develops themes of childhood exploration, discovery, and the allure of the natural world, whilst contemplating the sacrifices one makes to uphold personal integrity, in the face of conflicting truths and ideals, when we try to understand and reconcile with the past.
Über den Autor / die Autorin
Colin Johnson grew up and still live in Leeds, experiences that inspired his novel Saving the World, One Mix-Tape at a Time. His visits to Moscow in the Soviet era provide the backdrop for some of the key events that befall the protagonist and his friends. Meadow Fog, Burnt Away by a Red Dawn now continues the story of the Valko family, written as both celebration and critique of the turbulent and problematic Soviet era. When he isn't writing, Colin rides a bike, tries to grow a wildflower meadow, and enjoys time with his family.
