Free Samples

An excerpt from the fine new novel Zuleikha, by Guzel Yakhina, about a woman's survival in Siberia exile, inspired by childhood memories of the author's grandmother.

Some off-the-cuff dacha recipes for you (summer seems like too relaxed a time for exacting recipes).

A new year, a new dessert!

An excerpt from the new translation of a novel by Karolina Pavlova (1807-1893), translated by Barbara Heldt.

A poem from the new volume Alcestis of the Underworld, by a regular translator of works published by Russian Life Books.

An excerpt from Benson Bobrick’s new book, a memoir of his life and work as a writer.

"A classical authoritarian power... does not pay that much attention to what the population thinks, and when it does, this attention is usually limited to a bunch of platitudes loudly proclaimed as the official ideology..."

In this new novel, set in the final year of the Soviet Union, young Sonya is reunited with her once-dissident mother, and they are on their way to navigating a new life together.

This is a short excerpt from the first-ever English translation (by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler) of Grossman’s epic novel of the turning point in World War II.

This year marks the 235th anniversary of the birth of Antonin Carême, a French chef who left his mark on Russian cuisine in the form of the dessert known in Russia as sharlotka and everywhere else as charlotte Russe.

Is Russia somehow different from other nations, or is it just like any other?

Explore a rich dessert named after the gourmand and minister of finance under Tsar Alexander I: Guriev Kasha.