Vita Nostra

Description

“Vita Nostra” — a cross between Lev Grossman’s “The Magicians” and Elizabeth Kostova’s “The Historian” […] is the anti-Harry Potter you didn’t know you wanted.” — The Washington Post

“Vita Nostra has become a powerful influence on my own writing. It’s a book that has the potential to become a modern classic of its genre, and I couldn’t be more excited to see it get the global audience in English it so richly deserves.” — Lev Grossman

Best Books of November 2018 — Paste Magazine

The definitive English language translation of the internationally acclaimed Russian novel–a brilliant work of metaphysical and dark fantasy combining psychological suspense, enchantment, and terror that makes us consider human existence in a fresh and provocative way.

Our life is brief . . .

Sasha Samokhina has been accepted to the Institute of Special Technologies.

Or, more precisely, she’s been chosen.

Situated in a tiny village, she finds the students are bizarre, and the curriculum even more so. The books are impossible to read, the lessons obscure to the point of maddening, and the work at this strange magical school refuses memorization. Using terror and coercion to keep the students in line, the school does not punish them for their transgressions and failures; instead, it is their families that pay a terrible price. Yet despite her fear, Sasha undergoes reality-bending changes that defy the dictates of matter and time; experiences which are nothing she has ever dreamed of . . . and suddenly all she could ever want.

A complex blend of adventure, magic, science, and a philosophy that probes the mysteries of existence, filtered through a distinct Russian sensibility, this astonishing work of philosophical fantasy and speculative fiction–brilliantly translated by Julia Meitov Hersey–is reminiscent of modern classics such as Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, Max Barry’s Lexicon, and Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale, but will transport them to a place far beyond those fantastical worlds.

Binding Type: Paperback
Author: Dyachenko
Published: 01/19/2021
Publisher: Harper Voyager
ISBN: 9780063054158
Pages: 416
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 1.10″ H x 7.90″ L x 5.20″ W

About the Author
Dyachenko: –

Marina and Sergey Dyachenko, a former actress and a former psychiatrist, are co-authors of over thirty novels and numerous short stories and screenplays. They were born in Ukraine and moved to California in 2013. Their books have been translated into several foreign languages and awarded multiple literary and film prizes. Marina and Sergey are recipients of the Award for Best Authors (Eurocon 2005), Prix Planete SF des blogueurs (2020), Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire (2020) and of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Rosetta Awards (2021).

Sergey Dyachenko passed away in 2022, but his memory lives on in books.