The literary bestseller that took the Baltics by storm now published for the first time in English.
This novel considers the effects of Soviet rule on a single individual. The central character in the story tries to follow her calling as a doctor. But then the state steps in. She is deprived first of her professional future, then of her identity and finally of her relationship with her daughter. Banished to a village in the Latvian countryside, her sense of isolation increases. Will she and her daughter be able to return to Riga when political change begins to stir?
'At first glance this novel depicts a troubled mother-daughter relationship set in the the Soviet-ruled Baltics between 1969 and 1989. Yet just beneath the surface lies something far more positive: the story of three generations of women, and the importance of a grandmother giving her granddaughter what her daughter is unable to provide - love, and the desire for life.' Meike Ziervogel, Peirene Press Publisher
Publisher: Peirene Press Ltd
ISBN: 9781908670427
Number of pages: 196
'Latvia is a country we have heard almost nothing about since its separation from the Soviet Union. Nora Ikstena is proving that Latvia is speaking in a bold and original voice.' ROSIE GOLDSMITH, JOURNALIST AND BROADCASTER.; 'Nora Ikstena's fiction opens up new paths not only for Latvian literature in English translation but for English literature itself.' JEREMY DAVIS, DALKEY ARCHIVE PRESS.
Soviet Milk follows the life of an unnamed doctor in Soviet governed Latvia. Her narration is interspersed with that of her daughter, also unnamed. The story follows the mother’s battle with depression and her... More
Fantastic little double edged story of adult and young life in the Soviet Latvia, post-war to Independence. The writing is so clear and somehow very in touch with the real history of the country and the region that... More
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