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Book Title

Brief Loves That Live Forever

Subtitle
A Novel
Author 1
Andreï Makine; Translated from the French by Geoffrey Strachan
Body
In Soviet Russia the desire for freedom is also a desire for the freedom to love. Lovers live as outlaws, traitors to the collective spirit, and love is more intense when it feels like an act of resistance. Now entering middle age, an orphan recalls the fleeting moments that have never left him—a scorching day in a blossoming orchard with a woman who loves another; a furtive, desperate affair in a Black Sea resort; the bunch of snowdrops a crippled childhood friend gave him to give to his lover. As the dreary Brezhnev era gives way to Perestroika and the fall of Communism, the orphan uncovers the truth behind the life of Dmitri Ress, whose tragic fate embodies the unbreakable bond between love and freedom.
 
“Makine has been compared to Stendhal, Tolstoy and Proust; our best historians of the Soviet era queue up to pronounce him one of the finest living writers on the period; and he is regularly tipped to be among the contenders for the next Nobel in literature.”—Daily Telegraph

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List Price
$15.00
ISBN
ISBN
978-1-55597-712-2
Format
Format
Paperback
Publication Date
Publication Date
Subject
Subject
Pages
Pages
180
Trim Size
Trim Size
5.5 x 8.25
Keynote
A beautifully observed and moving account of love and the human spirit in the Soviet era

About the Author

Andrei  Makine
Credit: Hermance TRIAY/Opale
Andreï Makine was born in Siberia and has lived in France for more than twenty years. His novels include Dreams of My Russian Summers, The Life of an Unknown Man, and A Woman Loved. His work has been translated into more than forty languages.
 
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Geoffrey Strachan was awarded the Scott Moncrieff Prize for his translation of Le testament français (Dreams of My Russian Summers) in 1998. He has translated all of Andreï Makine's novels for publication in Britain and the United States.
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Praise

  • “Dreamy and impressionistic. . . . [Makine’s] writing demonstrates psychological acuity and an intuitive feel for the telling detail.”New York Times Book Review
  • “Elegant, powerful. . . . Like Proust, [Makine] pursues the ‘fleeting paradise’ found in unexpected moments of tenderness.”The New Yorker
  • “[Brief Loves that Live Forever] conveys the deep seriousness with which [Makine] treats romance, the only force powerful enough to expose the empty stagecraft of politics.”Wall Street Journal
  • “Makine’s book recalls work by Kundera and Sebald. . . . Moving and thoughtful, this novel—despite its slight frame—has a lot to say.”Kirkus Reviews, starred review
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