Light and the Dark

Picture two people, young and in love. Picture them being separated from one another. Picture them keeping their love alive through letters. So far, so simple.

Now imagine they’ve not just been separated geographically, but also historically. Imagine that their love and letters now defy time and place, life and death.

By now you realize that this novel is unique.

And, when you learn how it has made Russian literary-prize history, and has todate been sold in twenty-two languages, you begin to sense just how unique...

Born in 1961 in Moscow, Mikhail Shishkin is one of the most prominent names in contemporary Russian literature, and is the only author to have won all three
major Russian Literary Prizes. He divides his time between Moscow, Switzerland and Germany.

The Light and The Dark (Russian title Pismovnik) won Mikhail Shishkin his second Big Book Award (Russia’s biggest literary prize) in 2011.
Shishkin is the only novelist to have won the Russian Booker, Big Book and National Bestseller aw