Russia Girl

On one of those magically white winter nights, my mother took me in her arms and shut the doors behind her. We left my drunken father in the name of a better life. And the name of that better life was Tom, a local gangster with the face of the devil himself. I remember looking at my mother's bloody face bashed into the ground, teeth scattered around her limp body. I understood then that one of us was going to die. Fortunately, I was right!

From a member of the Pussy Riot collective: An urgent, intimate, firsthand account of grassroots dissent, bravery, art, and spectacle in Putin's Russia Picking up where Riot Days left off, Maria (Masha) Alyokhina takes us through her activist experiences between 2014 to 2022. In vivid...

In the sequel to the nationally bestselling The Bear and the Nightingale, a gifted young woman with ties to the old magic of her homeland blazes a trail out of the frozen wilderness and into the court intrigues of Moscow. “A masterfully told story of folklore, history, and magic with a...

Roza Shanina was an exceptional, legendary sniper during World War II, a brave female-soldier known for her beauty, high moral qualities and shooting accuracy. She was credited with fifty-nine confirmed kills, including twelve soldiers during the Battle of Vilnius. And she also kept a diary – a document unique in its content, which reveals to the world the unknown side of war. Translated for the first time into the English language by a professional translator, the war diary of Roza Shanina is a unique piece of history, since diaries were strictly prohibited in the Soviet military in an ...

Brought to you by Penguin. Penguin Audio presents four gripping tales of espionage, written and read by John le Carre. This collection includes the finest picks of his espionage classics, written between 1968 and 1989, and presents more than 15 hours of thrilling storytelling. It includes...

The true story of one woman’s survival through both the Nazi and Russian regimes in Germany. As a child in the 1930s, Flora lived in a beautiful part of Germany, waking up daily to the fresh bread smells of her father's bakery and the fragrant delights from her mother's garden. But everything changed when the Nazis took control of every aspect of their lives. War took away their family and friends, and they had not imagined it could get even worse. But it did when their land was handed over to the Russians. Life became a living nightmare when they realized what they must do to survive. ...

Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography The prizewinning memoir of one of the world’s great writers, about coming of age as an enemy of the people and finding her voice in Stalinist Russia Born across the street from the Kremlin in the opulent Metropol Hotel—the...

A lonely fisherwoman. A legendary whale. A ghostly encounter that changes everything. In the summer of 1902, Alina Vasilyeva sets sail alone on the vast, unforgiving seas of Kamchatka, determined to capture the legendary Ghost Whale—a feat no one has ever accomplished. But as the moonlight dances on the waves, her isolation is shattered by an ethereal presence: Yukiko, a beautiful sea ghost with a tragic past and secrets as deep as the ocean itself. What begins as a chance meeting turns into something far more powerful—a bond that defies time, death, and destiny itself. But as the tides...

Evan Ryder returns to uncover an international conspiracy against American democracy in a white-knuckle thriller by New York Times bestselling author, Eric Van Lustbader. Evan Ryder was once a field agent for a black-ops arm of the Department of Defense. Now she works for Parachute, a...

Russian meddling, American fragmentation, and global politics collide in this action-packed, international thriller. In The Nemesis Manifesto, New York Times bestselling author Eric Van Lustbader, "the master of the smart thriller,"* delivers an epic and harrowing adventure of the predatory...

“You say you want this,” Ivan breathed. I looked up at him, heat filling my body. “You show me, say my name.” He’d seen the video—the video I forgot all about! “Ivan, I—” “Nyet,” he hissed. “No excuses. You belong to Alexei. I cannot have you, Julie.” “Ivan, please—” “You cannot do this thing you say today,” Ivan said, and there was a thread of pleading under the rasp in his voice. “You cannot give this to anyone but Alexei.” “I already have,” I said, defiantly staring up at him. “I gave it to you. You just haven’t claimed it yet...” Julie's...

Evan Ryder is back in The Kobalt Dossier, the stunning follow-up to The Nemesis Manifesto from New York Times bestselling author Eric Van Lustbader. After thwarting the violent, international, fascist syndicate known as Nemesis, Evan Ryder returns to Washington, D.C., to find her secret division...

Playing out as a scintillating story with unexpected twists, “The Girl on the Trail” explores the severe and overwhelming shock of discovering uncomfortable truths about those we look up to, the security of family, the joy and satisfaction of love, the devastation of betrayal and loss, and the comfort of loyalty in our lives. The teenage Tatiana is certain she has her future mapped out: She would find love when she becomes a young woman, she would live a loving life all through college, and she would marry the knight who would secure her heart. But then, her compromised mother shakes ...

Brought to you by Penguin. What do you do when your country becomes a repressive authoritarian state? 2014: Russia prepares to host the Winter Olympics. Russia invades Crimea. Putin is re-elected president. Several political prisoners are amnestied and released early from prison. Maria Alyokhina...

Just three weeks after my 21st birthday, on the evening of October 4, 1994, I was abducted from the streets of my hometown in Southern Russia while on my way home. They drugged me and drove to another country, where they held me captive in a tiny room at first, and then under a house in a pit. A few weeks after my kidnapping, a brutal civil war broke out. Through eight horrifying months of captivity, witnessing atrocities, surviving bombings and sexual violence, I fought desperately to stay alive, stay sane, and not to lose the one thing that kept me going: my hope.

Luliia was a dedicated member of the Komsomol (the Soviet communist youth organization) and her parents worked for the NKVD. She started at the sniper school and eventually became a valued member of her battalion during operations against Prussia. She persevered through eight months of training before leaving for the Front on 24th November 1944 just days after qualifying. Joining the third Belorussian Front her battalion endured rounds of German mortar as well as loudspeaker announcements beckoning them to come over to the German side.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon meets Pax in this fantastical tale of a wolf who forms an unlikely alliance with Baba Yaga to save the forest from a wicked tsar. Since she was a pup, Zima has been taught to fear humans--especially witches--but when her family is threatened, she has no choice but to...

‘Do yourself a favour and read this wonderful book’ Scotsman Based on the true story of conjoined Russian twins, Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapova, The Less You Know the Sounder You Sleep is a tale of survival and self-determination, innocence and lies. No one expects Dasha and Masha to live...

A frozen palace and a sparkling secret – an epic Russian adventure awaits! Anna Orlov might be the luckiest girl in the world. She is the daughter of a Russian Count and lives in a beautiful snowbound palace that is home to a menagerie of wonderful animals: tigers, wolfhounds and, of course...

Don't miss the latest book in the Arkady Renko series, THE SIBERIAN DILEMMA by Martin Cruz Smith, ‘the master of the international thriller’ (New York Times) – available to order now! 'One of those writers that anyone who is serious about their craft views with respect bordering on awe'...