Bitter Quest. Volume 2

Publication of the book "Bitter Quest" in two volumes!

A quest novel. A test novel. A rethinking novel.

"Bitter Quest" is an incredible experiment immersing modern young people into the Soviet era of the 1970s. To write this work, Alexandra Marinina organized... focus groups of modern youth and described their real reactions in the book.
You will discover how Generation Z would behave in the realities of the "developed socialism" era.

This novel is for everyone who does not live in the present but thinks about the future, remembering the past...
Imagine you found yourself in the USSR. The good old seventies: stability and peace, free education, lunch in the cafeteria for one ruble, ice cream for 19 kopecks… A dream?! Well, the Quest will show...
The organizers selected several guys and girls to participate in a rather unusual experiment — a journey to the 1970s. In the house where the volunteers are to live, the household of the "developed socialism" era has been completely recreated. They read plays by Maxim Gorky, eat Soviet foods, wear Soviet clothes, and suffer from boredom at "Komsomol meetings," deprived of their smartphones and other gadgets. On the surface — just a fun adventure. But what is all this for? And how will it end for each of them?

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"Marinina not only writes detective novels but also answers eternal questions. The author relates to her readers like a kind and experienced teacher to students in need of support, hints, and guidance. Optimistic and practical in her didactics, Marinina poses the question of 'how to live' and strives to help the reader find their path to a better life in today's world. Through her detective stories, Marinina writes a modern novel of 'cultivating feelings': the author's primary goal is upbringing through entertainment." — Anatoly Vishhevsky, Grinnell College, USA

"Many of Alexandra Marinina's novels have been adapted into films in Russia, and in Germany, they have been reworked into radio plays. Given that the aim of these adaptations is to captivate viewers and listeners in the same way that readers are captivated, both the film and the radio play are not only additional artistic works but also interesting interpretations that have penetrated the mystery of Alexandra Marinina's success." — Sarah Heggy, University of Cologne, Germany

"In the dialogues of artistic and trivial literature, one can find various ways of stylizing 'orality' to achieve the impression of spontaneous conversation. Colloquial speech in A. Marinina's novels is characterized by an extraordinarily high degree of liveliness, which is expressed, among other things, in the various forms of address between interlocutors, in the different shades of politeness, and in the emotionality of the lexical choices used." — Wolfgang Stadler, Leopold Franzens University, Innsbruck, Austria