The Good Angel Of Death

Description

When Kolia moves into a new flat in Kiev, he finds a book hidden within a volume of War and Peace. Intrigued by the annotations that appear on every page, Kolia sets out to find out more about the scribbler. His investigations take him to a graveyard, more specifically the coffin of a Ukrainian nationalist who died in mysterious circumstances and was buried with a sealed letter and a manuscript. An exhumation under cover of darkness reveals that an item of great national importance is buried near a fort in Kazakhstan. As nightwatchman at a baby milk factory, Kolia exposes himself to the attentions of a criminal gang, and so he decides to leave Kiev for a while. Armed with only three cases of baby milk, which have unexpected hallucinogenic properties, he sets off on what turns out to be a very bizarre journey: crossing the Caspian Sea and traversing the deserts of Kazakhstan. He meets a host of unlikely characters on the way, including Bedouins, ex-KGB officers and a spirit-like companion in the form of a chameleon...The Good Angel of Death is a classic, first-rate Kurkov yarn which is sure to delight old and new fans alike.' Kurkov's style is spare and effective, drawing us with deceptive ease into a dense, complex world full of wonderful characters.' Michael Palin

Promotion info

The Good Angel of Death is a classic, first-rate Kurkov yarn which is sure to delight old and new fans alike.

Author description

Andrey Kurkov was born in St Petersburg in 1961. Having graduated from the Kiev Foreign Languages Institute, he worked for some time as a journalist, did his military service as a prison warder in Odessa, then became a film cameraman, writer of screenplays and author of critically acclaimed and popular novels.