From the author of The Watchmaker of
Filigree Street and The Kingdoms, an
epic Cold War novel set in a mysterious town in Soviet
Russia.
In 1963, in a Siberian prison,
former nuclear specialist Valery Kolkhanov has mastered what
it takes to survive: the right connections to the guards for
access to food and cigarettes, the right pair of warm boots,
and the right attitude toward the small pleasures of life so
he won’t go insane. But one day, all that changes:
Valery’s university mentor steps in and sweeps him
from the frozen camp to a mysterious unnamed city. It houses
a set of nuclear reactors, and surrounding it is a forest so
damaged it looks like the trees have rusted from within.
In City 40, Valery is Dr. Kolkhanov once more, and
he’s expected to serve out his prison term studying
the effect of radiation on local animals. But as Valery
begins his work, he is struck by the questions his research
raises. Why is there so much radiation in this area? What,
exactly, is being hidden from the thousands who live in the
town? And if he keeps looking for answers, will he live to
serve out his sentence?
Based on real events in a
surreal Soviet city, and told with bestselling author
Natasha Pulley’s inimitable style, The Half
Life of Valery K is a sweeping new adventure for
readers of Stuart Turton and Sarah Gailey.
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