A young man arrives in the Ukraine, clutching in his hand a tattered photograph. He is searching for the woman who fifty years ago saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Unfortunately, however, he is aided in his quest by Alex, a translator with an uncanny ability to mangle English into bizarre new forms; a 'blind' old man haunted by memories of the war; and an undersexed guide dog named Sammy Davis Jr, Jr. What they are looking for seems elusive - a truth hidden behind veils of time, language and the horrors of war. What they find turns all their worlds upside down.

'Spectacular - extremely funny, linguistically brilliant and at times very moving' Observe

Winner of the Guardian First Book Award. National press advertising campaign on publication. Author will be in the UK in the Spring for trade and publicity events. "An astonishing feat" "The Times" "Genuinely gripping, consistently entertaining, dazzlingly imaginative" "Evening Standard".

A young man arrives in the Ukraine, clutching in his hand a tattered photograph. He is searching for the woman who fifty years ago saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Unfortunately, he is aided in his quest by Alex, a translator with an uncanny ability to mangle English into bizarre new forms; a "blind" old man; and an undersexed guide dog.