The Gardener From Ochakov

Igor is confident his old Soviet policeman's uniform will be the best costume at the party. But he hasn't gone far before he realises something is wrong. The streets are unusually dark and empty, and the only person to emerge from the shadows runs away from him in terror. After a perplexing conversation with the terrified man, who turns out to be a wine smuggler, and on recovering from the resulting hangover, Igor comes to an unbelievable conclusion: he has found his way back to 1957 Kiev. And it isn't the innocent era his mother and her friends have so sentimentally described. As he travels between centuries, his life becomes more and more complicated. The unusual gardener who lives in his mother's shed keeps disappearing, his best friend has blackmailed the wrong people, and Igor has fallen in love with a married woman in a time before he was born. With his mother's disapproval at his absences growing, and his adventures in each time frame starting to catch up with him, Igor has to survive the past if he wants any kind of future.

About the author

Andrey Kurkov

Summary

The unusual gardener who lives in his mother’s shed keeps disappearing, his best friend has blackmailed the wrong people, and Igor has fallen in love with a married woman in a time before he was born.

Report

Kurkov is a master story teller, using a simple lean style for a narrative that reads like a fable or myth, rich in invention, brought to life by the deadpan depiction of local people and local events The Bay, Swansea

Product details

• Authors: Andrey Kurkov, Andrej Kurkow
• Assisted by: Amanda Love Darragh (Translation), Amanda Love Darragh (Translation)
• Publisher: Vintage UK
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 31.08.2014
• EAN: 9780099571872
• ISBN: 978-0-09-957187-2
• No. of pages: 320
• Dimensions: 129 mm x 198 mm x 20 mm
• Series: VINTAGE BOOKS
• Subjects: Fiction > Suspense; Ukraine, Science Fiction, Historical fiction, FICTION / Science Fiction / Time Travel, Fiction in translation, Kiev, c 1950 to c 1959, Modern and contemporary fiction, USSR, Soviet Union, C 1945 To C 1960, Science fiction: time travel