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The Silver Bone

Longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024
By Andrey Kurkov
Series: The Kyiv Mysteries
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Brief Description
A Summer 2024 pick in the Times Literary Supplement and the Financial Times "Andrey Kurkov is often called Ukraine's greatest living writer, and it is a gift for crime fiction fans that he writes in this genre" New York Times "A very intriguing and atmospheric novel... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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The first in a new series of historical mysteries set amid the chaos of the Russian Revolution. By the author of Death and the Penguin and Grey Bees

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A Summer 2024 pick in the Times Literary Supplement and the Financial Times

"Andrey Kurkov is often called Ukraine's greatest living writer, and it is a gift for crime fiction fans that he writes in this genre" New York Times

"A very intriguing and atmospheric novel by a highly accomplished writer . . . A fascinating read in the light of contemporary events" Alexander McCall Smith, Bestselling Author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Kyiv, 1919. The Soviets control the city, but White armies menace them from the West. No man trusts his neighbour and any spark of resistance may ignite into open rebellion.

When Samson Kolechko's father is murdered, his last act is to save his son from a falling Cossack sabre. Deprived of his right ear instead of his head, Samson is left an orphan, with only his father's collection of abacuses for company.

Until, that is, his flat is requisitioned by two Red Army soldiers, whose secret plans Samson is somehow able to overhear with uncanny clarity. Eager to thwart them, he stumbles into a world of murder and intrigue that will either be the making of him - or finish what the Cossack started.

Inflected with Kurkov's signature humour and magical realism, The Silver Bone takes inspiration from the real-life archives of crime enforcement agencies in Kyiv, crafting a propulsive narrative that bursts to life with rich historical detail.

Translated from the Russian by Boris Dralyuk

Series: The Kyiv Mysteries

View all
  • The Stolen Heart
    Samson Kolechko has been assigned a most perplexing case - though it is mostly perplexing because it's hard to understand why selling the meat of one's own pig constitutes a crime. But apparently, it does, and at the insistence of the Chekist secret police officer assigned to "reinforce" the Lybid police station, Samson does his diligent - if diffident -...
    By Andrey Kurkov
    Paperback
    $3799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Stolen Heart
    The Stolen Heart
    Samson Kolechko has been assigned a most perplexing case - though it is mostly perplexing because it's hard to understand why selling the meat of one's own pig constitutes a crime. But apparently it does, and at the insistence of the Chekist secret police officer assigned to "reinforce" the Lybid police station, Samson does his diligent - if diffident -...
    By Andrey Kurkov
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Silver Bone
    A Summer 2024 pick in the Times Literary Supplement and the Financial Times "Andrey Kurkov is often called Ukraine's greatest living writer, and it is a gift for crime fiction fans that he writes in this genre" New York Times "A very intriguing and atmospheric novel by a highly accomplished writer . . . A fascinating read in the light...
    By Andrey Kurkov
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Lost Soldiers
    Fresh from the case of the stolen heart, one that shattered his belief in the regime he works for, Samson Kolechko is confronted with a mystery that borders on the impossible. How could a squad of Red Army soldiers have disappeared from the Galician bathhouse, leaving only their boots and their uniforms as evidence they ever existed? Faced with such...
    By Andrey Kurkov
    Paperback
    $3799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781529426519

Publisher: Quercus Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 26 September 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: MacLehose Press

Contributors:

  • Translated by Boris Dralyuk

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 26.0mm

Width: 126.0mm

Height: 194.0mm

Weight: 200g

Pages: 288

Collections

Andrey Kurkov Crime & Thriller Fiction General Fiction Historical Crime & Mystery Historical Fiction Series: The Kyiv Mysteries

About the Author

Born near Leningrad in 1961, Andrey Kurkov was a journalist, prison warder, cameraman and screenplay-writer before he became well known as a novelist. He received "hundreds of rejections" and was a pioneer of self-publishing, selling more than 75,000 copies of his books in a single year. His novel Death and the Penguin became an international bestseller, translated into more than thirty languages. As well as writing fiction for adults and children, he has become known as a commentator and journalist on Ukraine for the international media. His work of reportage, Ukraine Diaries: Dispatches from Kiev was followed by the novels The Bickford Fuse, Grey Bees, and Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv (longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2023), as well as his non-fiction work Diary of an Invasion (2022).

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  • On Sale
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    Diary of an Invasion
    Diary of an Invasion by Andrey Kurkov follows the harrowing yet hopeful journey of Ukraine as it faces the aggressive incursion of Russian forces. The narrative begins with the escalating tensions and uncertainty that permeate the air as Russian troops amass along the borders of Ukraine. Kurkov captures the transformation of an ordinary life into extraordinary circumstances, detailing the profound...
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  • On Sale
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    Death and the Penguin
    Death and the Penguin is a blackly comic, bittersweet satirical novel about Ukraine, a writer, and a pet penguin. All that stands between one man and murder by the mafia is a penguin. Viktor is an aspiring writer with only Misha, his pet penguin, for company. Although Viktor would prefer to write short stories, he earns a living composing obituaries...
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  • The Stolen Heart
    Samson Kolechko has been assigned a most perplexing case - though it is mostly perplexing because it's hard to understand why selling the meat of one's own pig constitutes a crime. But apparently, it does, and at the insistence of the Chekist secret police officer assigned to "reinforce" the Lybid police station, Samson does his diligent - if diffident -...
    By Andrey Kurkov
    Paperback
    $3799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Stolen Heart
    The Stolen Heart
    Samson Kolechko has been assigned a most perplexing case - though it is mostly perplexing because it's hard to understand why selling the meat of one's own pig constitutes a crime. But apparently it does, and at the insistence of the Chekist secret police officer assigned to "reinforce" the Lybid police station, Samson does his diligent - if diffident -...
    By Andrey Kurkov
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Lost Soldiers
    Fresh from the case of the stolen heart, one that shattered his belief in the regime he works for, Samson Kolechko is confronted with a mystery that borders on the impossible. How could a squad of Red Army soldiers have disappeared from the Galician bathhouse, leaving only their boots and their uniforms as evidence they ever existed? Faced with such...
    By Andrey Kurkov
    Paperback
    $3799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv
    "Both a pleasure and a testament to life in Ukraine, before" Sunday Times "Ukraine's greatest living novelist" New European "A Ukrainian Murakami" Guardian A love letter to the beautiful city of Lviv, by the author of Death and the Penguin and Grey Bees. Strange things are afoot in the cosmopolitan city of Lviv, western Ukraine. Seagulls are circling and the...
    By Andrey Kurkov
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