Shamara and Other Stories

This collection features Svetlana Vasilenko's novel Little Fool, nominated for the Russian Booker Prize. Rich in folklore, legend, and history, the story follows the transformation of Ganna, a girl from the Volga shores, into a modern-day Madonna. Also included are the novella "Shamara" and several short stories, including the acclaimed "Going After Goat Antelopes."

"What makes Vasilenko's magical yarn-spinning bearable is that she's a gritty, hard-bitten feminist: not a cell-phone schmoozer like our Naomi Wolf but the real deal, the kind with a tough-minded vision of how women's power might help to de-brutalize the world." --Newsday

"Very interesting and unusual fiction." --Kirkus Reviews

"This is a fascinating volume, one which demonstrates the vitality of post-Soviet women's writing." --World Literature Today

"[This] collection of urgent and politically suggestive short stories and novellas covers the spiritually and geographically vast terrain of contemporary Russia...Vasilenko brings intelligence and soulfulness to these telling, moving stories." --Publishers Weekly