Secondhand Time
About the book
A chorus of witnesses recounts the Soviet Union’s collapse and life after communism.
Original title: Время секонд хэнд
Europe · A READING GUIDE
Belarus
Alexievich belongs to Belarusian literature while writing her books in Russian. Her compositions of witnesses’ voices reveal the personal costs of public history. War and Chernobyl appear through personal testimony rather than official chronicles. Martinovich uses an affair to explore surveillance, while Bacharevič examines language as a tool of freedom and subordination. Alindarka’s Children in English and Scots and the Polish Psy Europy offer different routes into his fiction.
WHERE TO START
- Secondhand TimeSvetlana Alexievich
- ParanoiaVictor Martinovich
- Alindarka’s ChildrenAlhierd Bacharevič
Books to begin with
An editorial selection · not rankedNo matches. Try another language or search term.
The Unwomanly Face of War
About the book
Women who served in the Red Army challenge the official heroic image of war.
Original title: У войны не женское лицо
Voices from Chernobyl
About the book
Witnesses to the Chernobyl disaster describe loss, contamination and the collapse of their familiar world.
Original title: Чернобыльская молитва
Paranoia
About the book
An affair in a police state becomes a trap of surveillance and uncertainty.
Original title: Паранойя
Alindarka’s Children
About the book
A fable about children escaping linguistic coercion explores power and identity.
Original title: Дзеці Аліндаркі
Psy Europy
About the book
A multi-stranded dystopia explores the power of language, imagination and Europe’s political borders.
Original title: Сабакі Эўропы
Last Witnesses
About the book
Witnesses revisit childhoods marked by the Second World War through accounts of loss, hunger and survival.
Boys in Zinc
About the book
Soldiers, medical staff and families reveal the human costs of the Soviet war in Afghanistan.
Context and sources
Sources on authors and their connections to this country. Specific edition details appear beside each book. Polish and English originals are not labelled as translations.
- Źródło: autor i tradycja literacka ↗
- Svetlana Alexievich — wydanie i informacje o autorze ↗
- Svetlana Alexievich — wydanie i informacje o autorze ↗
- Victor Martinovich — wydanie i informacje o autorze ↗
- Alhierd Bacharevič — wydanie i informacje o autorze ↗
- Alhierd Bacharevič — wydanie i informacje o autorze ↗
- Svetlana Alexievich — Last Witnesses ↗
- Svetlana Alexievich — Boys in Zinc ↗
Your next destination
Europe · Reading guide
Belgium
8 selected books
EnglishPolish
Europe · Reading guide
Bosnia and Herzegovina
8 selected books
EnglishPolish
Europe · Reading guide
Bulgaria
8 selected books
EnglishPolish