"A masterpiece by one of Europes finest contemporary novelists. Rowan WilliamsLonglisted for the 2024 Dublin Literary AwardMonks devious and devout and an agedefying royal pair chronicle the history of their fictional island in this witty critique of Western civilization and history itself.Eugene Vodolazkin, internationally acclaimed novelist and scholar of medieval literature, returns with a satirical parable about European and Russian history, the myth of progress, and the futility of war.This ingenious novel, described by critics as a coda to his bestselling Laurus,is presented as a chronicle of an island from medieval to modern times. The island is not on the map, but it is real beyond doubt. It cannot be found in history books, yet the events are painfully recognizable. The monastic chroniclers dutifully narrate events they witness quests for power, betrayals, civil wars, pandemics, droughts, invasions, innovations, and revolutions. The entries mostly seem objective, but at least one monk simultaneously drafts and hides a "true history, to be discovered centuries later. And why has someone snipped out a key prophesy about the islands fate?These chronicles receive commentary today from an elderly couple who are the islands former rulers. Prince Parfeny and Princess Ksenia are truly extraordinary they are now 347 years old. Eyewitnesses to much of their islands turbulent history, they offer sharpeyed observations on the changing flow of time and their peoples...

Binding: Hardback;320 pages; Publisher: Plough Publishing House (IPS); Classification: FA; Weight: 750 g; Dimensions: 239 x 161 x 30

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