Description

Deep in an Estonian forest, two women, one young, one old, are hiding.

Zara is a prostitute and a murderer, on the run from brutal captors – men who know how to punish a woman. Aliide offers refuge but not safety: she has her own criminal secrets – traitorous crimes of passion and revenge committed long ago, during the country’s brutal Soviet years.

Both women have survived lives of abuse. But this time their survival depends on revealing the one thing history has taught them to keep safely hidden: the truth.

A haunting, intimate and gripping story of suspicion, betrayal and retribution against a backdrop of Soviet oppression and European war.

Publisher Review

"The multidimensionality of Purge is startling. . . . [The novel] encompasses the grand themes . . . [of] shame, betrayal, guilt, atonement. . . with the complexity and seriousness worthy of them. . . . Oksanen has publicly criticized the trendy nostalgia for the Soviet Union, and those who . . . stick a Lenin pin on their chest without a thought to what they are advertising. With Purge, Oksanen doesn't just rap these pin wearers on the knuckles, she hits them with a sledgehammer." -- Turun Sanomat "A bravura work, deeply engaged with [Estonia's] knotted history, sparing but potent in its use of irony, and containing an empathic treatment of all the miserable choices Estonians faced during their periods of oppression. . . . Oksanen has crafted a stirring and humane work of art."--Jacob Silverman, "The New Republic" "A stunner . . . ["Purge" is] a compelling look at what we do to survive."--Karen R. Long, "The Plain Dealer" (Cleveland) ""Purge" is that very rare thing, a sheer masterpiece . . . A marvel . . . I hope that everyone in the world who knows how to read, reads Purge."--Nancy Huston, author of "Fault Lines " "Oksanen's fluid, unadorned prose gives shape to unspeakable violence and illuminates the process of remembering."--"The L Magazine "(Top 10 Books of 2010) "A captivating book about two women with dark secrets and an underlying connection. . . . Oksanen skillfully weaves histories together to form a rich, complex nove."--Shelf Awareness (T