Description

Moscow, 1985. Four teenagers – Anya, Milka, Petya and Aleksey, whose lives, like those of their Western counterparts, are fuelled by sex, alcohol and cigarettes – yearn for a world of Levi’s, Queen, foreign travel and the freedom to choose their fates. Instead, they encounter heartbreak and tragedy, while all around them Soviet policies, cruel but familiar, are giving way to untested concepts such as glasnost and perestroika and a brief flourishing of hope before the next repressive regime take root.

This is the hour between dog and wolf, twilight, when one state has ended and another has not quite begun.

Although it depicts a chaotic and desperate era, this exceptional debut novel pulsates with life. It is radiant with friendship and love, the power of international literature, values and politics, as its characters struggle to survive, to save their country and one another.

Publisher Review

http://www.midwestbookreview.com/rbw/mar_22.htm#markzvonkovic — Mark Zvonkovic * Midwest Book Review * https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-593-35601-2 * Publishers Weekly * https://chireviewofbooks.com/2022/03/21/the-orchard/amp/ — Caitlin Stout * Chicago Review of Books * https://www.startribune.com/review-the-orchard-by-kristina-gorcheva-newberry/600155081/ — Cory Ildweller * Minneapolis Star Tribune * https://www.bookpage.com/reviews/the-orchard-kristina-gorcheva-newberry/ — Thane Tierney * Bookpage * https://www.christinesneed.com/post/interview-with-debut-novelist-kristina-gorcheva-newberry — Christine Sneed https://swvatoday.com/community/bland_county/article_5b4553c4-c7fa-11ec-8dec-2f6076c9405b.html#tracking-source=home-top-story — Millie Rothrock * Bland Country Messenger * https://www.pbs.org/show/write-around-corner/ — Rose Martin * Write Around the Corner, Blue Ridge PBS * https://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/features/an-interview-with-kristina-gorcheva-newberry?fbclid=IwAR3N8AWAzlt4DR-TVlIbsM5qddq7c-zqcDWRxlsnkKoIlHyaahaIpK18-6M&fs=e&s=cl — Cathy Alter * Washing Independent Review of Books * https://harvardreview.org/book-review/the-orchard/ — Olive Fellows * The Harvard Review * https://nypost.com/2022/10/13/priyanka-chopra-jonas-favorite-jewels-and-beauty-finds/ — Priyanka Chopra * The New York Post * Best books of 2022: Top 30 must-read titles of the year (nypost.com) — Mackenzie Dawson * The New York Post *