268 pages. Published April 25, 2023 by Deep Vellum. Fiction.
A convoluted crime caper and dark comedy of errors:
Two Russian boys, not-quite-twins but they share a name and birthday, arrive in “Montegasco”, somewhere in Europe, to meet their father. Only, he doesn’t know that he has “twins”—in fact, he’s completely sure he has one son, and he suspects a woman named Alina of foul play.
Because Alina is the woman who was lying in the same ward when his wife was in labour too, both of them giving birth to sons that day. His wife, Masha, died in childbirth, Alina did not; so he came to an arrangement with her regarding his son, before he disappeared—eventually to Montegasco.
That’s the basic plot, but you’ll find there are a million twists and turns in the tale, worthy of the best Russian absurdism. The main character in these stories is always the invisible State, all-powerful, ridiculous, impossible to make sense of, and pushing its citizens to ludicrous extremes—from Sergei, the boys’ father, to the corrupt doctor who cares for the two women who give birth to his sons, and the hapless Alina, a university student whose only crime was to fall in love with a bad guy. This is a fun (and funny) story about how a chaotic and unhinged state gives rise to chaotic and unhinged lives: those caught up in the madness and just trying to make do, like Alina and a very memorable hospital orderly, and those with who profit from it, like Sergei and the doctor.
If you can hold onto the threads of all of the different characters the author introduces, you’ll enjoy this wild ride. Thanks to Deep Vellum and Edelweiss for DRC access.
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Harare Review of Books 
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