Entomology for the Squeamish

The story of the Ginzburg family begins in the heat of post-war Tashkent, where the aromas of the eastern bazaar blend with the smells of communal kitchens. Here, adults argue and cry in cramped rooms, while children play detectives and investigate a real murder. The family chronicle takes the reader further, through a village in Samara and the cold north to Moscow, reflecting the history of the country: from post-war devastation to the anxieties of the new millennium.... «Entomology for the Squeamish» — a novel in stories, and each story is like a rare specimen in the collection of an enthusiastic entomologist: here is the delicate silk moth of fragile childhood, here is the fluttering dragonfly of first love, and here is a whole hive of family passions led by the bee matriarch-great-grandmother. Here, detective mysteries are revealed by children, rural idylls hold echoes of war, and quiet lyricism resonates with deep drama. All together, these stories compose a larger prose about fates and changes of epochs, about love and motherhood, choice and friendship, about everything that makes a family — a family.