* 'Bright, funny, satirical and relevant. . . . A new talent to watch!' MARGARET ATWOOD (via Twitter) * 'Bang-on brilliant' MIRIAM TOEWS *
'A comic triumph' GLOBE AND MAIL
'Luminous' YANN MARTEL
'Outstanding' ANTHONY DOERR
A brilliant and bitingly funny novel-in-stories, set in and around a single crumbling apartment building in Soviet-era Ukraine. Inspired by Maria Reva's own family's history, Good Citizens Need Not Fear takes us from paranoia to tenderness and back again, exploring what it is to be an individual amid the roiling forces of history.
'Maria Reva's enthralling debut of interlinked short stories achieves the double effect of timelessness and timeliness' KAPKA KASSABOVA, GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE DAY
'One of the leading post-Soviet writers of her generation while breaking through the limitations of the term itself' THE NATION
'Reva's characters spark off the page as they confront a brutal bureaucratic past with the only tool they possess - hope' O, THE OPRAH MAGAZINE
Reva's stories are witty yet dark and foreboding, harboring bitter and biting humor that does little to veil the despair [of the good citizens] . . . The writing style and storylines are exceptional, unique to the author yet reminiscent of the classics. 'Lucky Toss' taps into Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart' [and in 'Roach Brooch'] shades of Franz Kafka's
Metamorphosis are evident . . . Entertaining yet disconcerting and complex. [Reva] showcases the harsh reality of oppression, poverty, abandonment, fear and the constant scrabble simply to subsist and be counted as having a life worthy of acknowledgment
