AustLit

'When and how did the Tsaplin case begin? With the 1942 murder of a British intelligence officer in Alexandria? In the chaotic days of the 1968 Prague Spring? At the 1973 interrogation in the Leningrad KGB office? And how was Tsaplin's life altered by the novel he had translated? Forces of history and contingencies of fate drive Tsaplin across three continents to Melbourne, where some very old grievances and betrayals come to a head...' (Publication summary)

“Igor Gelbach’s rich portrayal of the decay and corruption of what was a small corner of the Soviet Union… is a wonderful evocation of place and period, of a picturesque Black Sea resort gone to seed, its life burdened first by the senseless opression from afar under the tyranny of Georgia’s most infamous son, then, as Stalinism decayed, by the corrosive action of Mafia violence.” - Sydney Morning Herald