​My translation of Anna Nerkagi's ​White Moss is out now with Pushkin Press!
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Blackwell's January 2026 Book of the Month​​
Best Recent Translated Fiction – The Guardian
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Get the book here
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On the eve of his wedding, young Alyoshka pines for an earlier love. Ilne chose to leave the nomadic Nenets community seven years before, moving to the city and taking his heart with her. Under increasing pressure to marry, Alyoshka struggles against the ancient Nenets customs of home and family, unwilling to give up his hope for another life.
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Meanwhile, other painful transitions shake the foundations of the small camp. Deep in grief, Ilne’s father Petko feels he has no role left to play in the community, while Vanu strikes out on a difficult journey to try to soothe his troubled friends.
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Deep in northern Siberia, minor human tragedies play out against the cold expanse of the tundra. With bursts of lyricism and a Chekhovian eye for human frailty, Anna Nerkagi crafts a multi-voiced drama of lost love and the clash between youthful dreams and the complex ties of home.​​​​
Reviews
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This story of a solid community where people stick with one another is a perfect warming tale for winter
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Nerkagi draws an evocative portrait of her Nenets community… Replete with imagery that conjures up the unforgiving but beautiful natural world… This is an almost fable-like story of rifts: between the young and the old, men and women, tradition and modernity
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A world-class writer
Hamid Ismailov, author of ‘The Railway’​​
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"A world that is almost impossible to conjure or reconcile with the brash 21st century is brought to vivid and timeless life in Anna Nerkagi's haunting White Moss… subtly translated by Irina Sadovina."
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This balance of authenticity and accessibility is preserved by the translator, Irina Sadovina, who leaves a number of Nenets words in the text, but glosses them at the back. The prose itself, with the exception of occasional metaphors drawn from local fauna, maintains an icy restraint in keeping with the landscape.
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