The Best People of the City

Ekaterina Kozhevina is a prose writer, sociologist, and curator of educational projects on culture and memory in the regions of Russia. She is the winner of the "Lyceum" award in 2021 for her novel "The Best People of the City." Kryukov, a small town on Sakhalin, lives by its own laws - people go to the sea, poach, believe in the spirits of the forest and water, and often encounter whales and bears. Suddenly, the familiar order collapses: a large oil company decides to build a new factory in Kryukov. Muscovite Lena embarks on an unusual journey to the edge of the world. To save her career, she must earn the trust of the locals and become a bridge between two worlds: the province and the capital. "The heroine of the novel knows where the globe from the geography classroom has gone. Now we know too: here it is. 'The Best People of the City' is the perfect globe of Russia from Moscow to the farthest outskirts, convex, relief, frighteningly similar, and drawn in the finest details. With restraint, almost sternness, and with piercing understanding, Ekaterina Kozhevina tells what seems to be the story of an individual girl in trouble, gripping, disturbingly precise, and wildly funny, while in reality providing a snapshot of the history of a vast country and its very different people: Muscovites and Far Easterners, office plankton and 'real men', heads of administrations and neighborhood drunks, trendy DJs and shamans, superstitious HR ladies, and dreamy street thugs. These are indeed the best people, and they will not be better - unless, of course, they learn love and patience. Ekaterina Kozhevina's novel confirms that this is possible - and that this is all that is needed." Shamil Idiatullin