A debut novel on abuse, bullying, and a childhood spent on the outskirts of a sprawling metropolis, by one of the pioneers of the new Russian writing, Evgenia Nekrasova.

Katya is a lonely child. Bullied at school and unloved at home, she seeks solace in an imaginary world only she can access. When a conflict with a school teacher erupts, and transfer to a special needs facility seems inevitable, Katya, pushed to the edge, decides to take her own life. She is rescued by a magical creature that emerges from behind the cooking stove. At once maternal, bestial and infantile, the creature become Katya’s ally and in its company, Katya discovers her own strength and finally finds an escape from her dreary life.

One of the pioneers of the new Russian writing, Nekrasova works with Slavic mythology placing it in the context of mundane contemporary Russian reality. With a seemingly innocent and playful style, she creates with Katya and Kikimora a novel that may appear to tell a simple childhood story, when in reality narrating the abandonment, violence and lack of love that mark contemporary Russian society.

Nekrasova’s main characters’ – note that they’re all female – blend inner strength and outer, even supernatural, forces that combine to lend them abilities that empower.

— Lisa C. Hayden, literary translator