By Yana Vagner
Translated by Maria Wiltshire
A 2021 Financial Times and Herald Book of the Year
Ousted from Moscow by a deadly epidemic, Anya and her husband must flee society, menaced by harsh Russian winter and desperate people.
Publication Date: July 18, 2023
Paperback: 9781646052110
Ebook: 9781646052370
Description
When a virulent flu epidemic sweeps through Moscow, killing hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, Anya and her husband, Sergey, decide to flee to a lake in the far north of Russia where they hope to sit out the disaster.
But as the wave of infection expands from the capital, they encounter obstacles, hazards, and aggression, just barely escaping from death as they try to navigate through a harsh Russian winter, with diminishing supplies of petrol and food. And their troubles multiply as Sergey agrees to takes on unwelcome guests and Anya struggles with feelings of hostility and jealousy. Inspired by a real-life flu epidemic in Moscow, To the Lake was a number one bestseller in Russia, and it has since appeared in a dozen languages and been adapted into a Netflix TV series.
Biographical Note
Yana Vagner lives in Moscow with her husband, teenage son and three dogs. She started writing To the Lake as a weekly blog while a flu epidemic swept through Moscow. It has since become a bestselling novel, translated into multiple languages and adapted into a Netflix series.
Reviews
"Enthralling debut. . .The scene-setting is colourful and precise, from steaming bowls of buckwheat porridge to snowflakes dancing in a blizzard, and Maria Wiltshire's evocative translation adds an extra layer of enjoyment" —Adam LeBor, Financial Times, Best In Thrillers
"From the very first page of To the Lake I was completely hooked by Yana Vagner’s writing so flawlessly translated by Maria Wiltshire. There’s a familiar sense of disbelief, unreality and panic that felt utterly authentic and compelling. . . Dramatic, intense and realistically terrifying, To The Lake is a book I won’t forget in a hurry." —Linda Hill, Linda's Book Bag