Description: A searing novel that excavates the human collateral damage wrought by the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine
Review Quotes: "Brilliantly rendered into English by Reilly Costigan-Humes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler, draws on Dante to offer a vivid glimpse of the current inferno in Eastern Ukraine. . . . Costigan-Humes and Stackhouse Wheeler do a masterly job."--Amelia Glaser, Times Literary Supplement
"Zhadan presents a nightmarish, raw vision of contemporary eastern Ukraine under siege from Russian-backed separatists. . . . With a poet's sense of lyricism . . . [Zhadan] unblinkingly reveals a country's devastation and its people's passionate determination to survive."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A gray, marginal world in which life is punctuated by bursting shells and the ebb and flow of soldiers from either side. . . . Ambient dread gives the novel a dystopian flavor, but Zhadan is writing about real life . . . The Orphanage is a journey through the underworld, recalling Dante and the Greek classics."--Sophie Pinkham, New York Review of Books "Serhiy Zhadan has a wonderful sense of rhythm and musicality in his language. . . . Zhadan is a master of metaphors and he creates very vivid portraits of ordinary people living in a battle zone. In this novel his literary talent shines like painful stars over the urban landscape painted by the silence and noise of the war."--Sofi Oksanen, Literary Hub "Powerful. . . . A forceful vision. . . . For those who want a glimpse of what life will be like in Ukraine for years to come, The Orphanage offers a frightening glimpse."--Bill Marx, Arts Fuse "Zhadan captures the grim war-torn city experience very well. . . . In its basis in real-life conditions that are so close to us, in time and place, [The Orphanage] serves well as a solid, all-too-close-for-comfort picture of how quickly societal collapse can ripple through even safe-seeming harbors, a reminder of how near such situations might be, to all of us."--M. A.Orthofer, Complete Review "Compelling. . . . Zhadan refuses to speak the language of a propagandist: above all, he is interested in how the war has transformed the lives of everyday people--that is, the most innocent and vulnerable in Ukrainian society."--Kate Tsurkan, Asymptote "[Ukraine] has been embroiled in bloody conflict since 2014. . . . With The Orphanage, this war finds its bard in Serhiy Zhadan, one of Ukraine's most interesting and talented writers."--Michael Idov, Book Post "Masterfully written, The Orphanage is a powerful testimony to the horrors of war in the everyday life of adults and children alike."--Paula Erizanu, Calvert Journal "[Zhadan] belongs to a long line of poets playing a crucial role in Ukrainian culture. . . . In The Orphanage, the protagonist Pasha sets out on a quest to save his nephew from occupied territory in eastern Ukraine and is met with a cast of characters who are struggling to come to terms with this new binary landscape."--Amanda Coakley, Time "Written in Zhadan's characteristically colloquial and lyrical prose, The Orphanage is a sensorial snapshot of the ongoing conflict and a chilling tale of survival."--Matt Janney, Calvert Journal "As a poet, Zhadan's imagery and metaphors are inspired, and brilliantly translated by Reilly Costigan-Humes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler."--Maya Jaggi, Five Books Winner of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development 2022 Literature Award Shortlisted for the EBRD Literature Prize 2022 Praise for Serhiy Zhadan: "Serhiy Zhadan is one of the most important creators of European culture at work today."--Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny "A literary master of enormous force."--Ilya Kaminsky