Masha Regina

Masha dreams of becoming one of the great European auteurs. But first she must escape the drudgery of her daily existence: a father who drinks, a dull and empty city, the fear of getting stuck in a life she doesn’t want. So as soon as she is old enough she heads to the big city to claim her spot alongside the great filmmakers of the day. But she is unprepared for the sacrifices she must make to succeed. Lovers come and go the college teacher, the cameraman, the renowned German actor but Masha must decide whether she is prepared to forsake her happiness for her art: how far is she willing to go?

Part philosophical treatise, part bildungsroman, Masha Regina is at once disturbing, intellectually challenging and unfailingly entertaining, and marks the arrival of an exciting new voice in Russian and international literature.

Vadim Levental was born in St. Petersburg and studied Russian literature at St. Petersburg State University. He has worked as a loader, a waiter, a designer, a bank clerk and played a small part in a TV series. He is now the managing director of the National Bestseller Prize and editor-in-chief of an independent press in St. Petersburg. His fiction has been published in numerous international magazines and, includingSt. Petersburg Noir (Akashic Books, Brooklyn, NY). Masha Regina is his first novel. He lives in St. Petersburg. TranslatorLisa Hayden lives in Pennsylvania.