Léna, Virginie Deloffre

Lena was born in the Siberian Far North, and more than anything, she loves the mist, snow, stillness, and anticipation, which have no colors or borders. Her husband, Vassia, an air force pilot, has only one dream: to continue the great Soviet space epic, of which Gagarin was the hero and which remains a source of immense pride for the Russian people. So, in the communal apartment she shares with three other families, Lena waits, her life punctuated by Vassia's departures and arrivals.

In these uncertain times of perestroika, as their world crumbles, how can they reconcile their deep-seated natures, their feelings, and their vastly different worldviews?

A masterful debut novel that reveals everything about the Russian soul: peasants in their kolkhozes, exiles in the taiga, crammed city dwellers—all of whom share the horizon of space conquest, a collective Eldorado.

"A magnificent novel that, from the Siberian tundra to the mythical Star City, tells us the dreams and hopes of four characters in search of the absolute."

Page des libraires

Virginie Deloffre is a doctor in Paris. Fascinated by Russia since childhood, she wrote her first novel, Léna, in 2012 and won the Prix des Libraires.