The Trans-Siberian Express is the focal point for this absolutely transfixing novella, brilliantly translated from French. Aliocha is a 20-year-old conscript who desperately wants to escape a certain harrowing fate in Siberia as part of the Russian army. He pleads with a woman on the train, secreted in first class, to hide him. And so launches this firecracker of a story that delivers a nerve-wracking ride. Maylis de Kerangal packs much energy into a dyamite narrative that moves linearly—quite literally, except for a short aside into the woman’s backstory. A marvel that has had me seeking out the author’s backlist.
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