El nuevo libro del aclamado autor de Muerte con pinguino

La conmovedora odisea de un apicultor entre dos bandos de la guerra, por Andrei Kurkov, un Bulgakov contemporaneo. […] Un Murakami ucraniano (The Guardian), un Kafka postsovietico (Daily Telegraph), todo un clasico (El Pais) traducido en sesenta y cinco paises.

En Malaia Starogradovka, un pueblo de apenas
tres calles en la zona gris de
Ucrania, la tierra de nadie disputada en 2014 entre las fuerzas

ucranianas y los separatistas prorrusos, solo quedan dos
residentes: Serguei Sergueich,
inspector de seguridad retirado convertido en

apicultor, y Pashka Jmelenko, amigo y rival suyo desde sus dias
de escuela. Sin electricidad, con poca
comida y con la constante amenaza de

los bombardeos, el unico placer que le queda a Sergueich son sus
abejas, adormiladas por el invierno. Con la llegada de la primavera, tendra
que alejarlas de la zona gris para que
puedan recolectar su polen en paz, una
mision que lo llevara a conocer a combatientes y civiles de ambos lados de la linea de batalla. Su bondad y
su impecable brujula moral iran
desarmando a todos los que se crucen en su camino, convirtiendo la salvacion de sus abejas en una metafora
sobre la vida en tiempos de guerra.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

Ukraine’s most famous novelist dramatizes the conflict raging in his country through the adventures of a mild-mannered beekeeper. From the author of the bestselling Death and the Penguin.

A latter-day Bulgakov … A Ukrainian Murakami -Phoebe Taplin,Guardian

Little Starhorodivka, a village of three streets, lies in Ukraine’s Grey Zone, the no-man’s-land between loyalist and separatist forces. Thanks to the lukewarm war of sporadic violence and constant propaganda that has been dragging on for years,only two residents remain: retired safety inspector turned beekeeper Sergey Sergeyich and Pashka, a frenemy from his schooldays.

With little food and no electricity, under ever-present threat of bombardment, Sergeyich’s one remaining pleasure is his bees. As spring approaches, he knows he must take them far from the Grey Zone so they can collect their pollen in peace. This simple mission on their behalf introduces him to combatants and civilians on both sides of the battle lines: loyalists, separatists, Russian occupiers, and Crimean Tatars. Wherever he goes, Sergeyich’s childlike simplicity and strong moral compass disarm everyone he meets.

But could these qualities be manipulated to serve an unworthy cause, spelling disaster for him, his bees, and his country?

Grey Bees is as timely as the author’s Ukraine Diaries were in 2014, but treats the unfolding crisis in a more imaginative way, with a pinch of Kurkov’s signature humor. Who better than Ukraine’s most famous novelist -who writes in Russian -toilluminate and present a balanced portrait of this most bewildering of modern conflicts?