The Gardener from Ochakov

by Andrey Kurkov

Amanda Love Darragh (Translator)

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Book cover for The Gardener from Ochakov

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Igor is confident his old Soviet policeman’s uniform will be the best costume at the party. But he hasn’t gone far before he realises something is wrong. The streets are unusually dark and empty, and the only person to emerge from the shadows runs away from him in terror.

After a perplexing conversation with the terrified man, who turns out to be a wine smuggler, and on recovering from the resulting hangover, Igor comes to an unbelievable conclusion: he has found his way back to 1957 Kiev. And it isn’t the innocent era his mother and her friends have so sentimentally described.

As he travels between centuries, his life becomes more and more complicated. The unusual gardener who lives in his mother’s shed keeps disappearing, his best friend has blackmailed the wrong people, and Igor has fallen in love with a married woman in a time before he was born. With his mother’s disapproval at his absences growing, and his adventures in each time frame starting to catch up with him, Igor has to survive the past if he wants any kind of future.

  • ISBN10 1846556155
  • ISBN13 9781846556159
  • Publish Date 1 August 2013
  • Publish Status Out of Print
  • Out of Print 16 May 2017
  • Publish Country GB
  • Publisher Vintage Publishing
  • Imprint Harvill Secker
  • Format Paperback (UK Trade)
  • Pages 320
  • Language English