{"product_id":"steppe-hardcover","title":"Steppe - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eOksana Vasyakina\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eElina Alter\u003c\/b\u003e (Translator)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA visceral, stirring novel following a queer literature student traveling across Russia with her estranged father, a long haul truck driver secretly dying of AIDS, from the acclaimed author of \u003ci\u003eWound\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA decade after her father walks out on her family, the narrator of \u003ci\u003eSteppe\u003c\/i\u003e, now a literature student, goes on the road with him as he makes deliveries across the vast plains of Russia. She's both drawn to and repulsed by his rugged life as a trucker, eager to understand the person who made her. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBut the prematurely aged, embittered man secretly being consumed by AIDS who meets her at the train station has little revelation to offer her yearning heart. As he drives her across desolate landscapes in his freight truck, the narrator tugs on the few threads that make him her family, and reflects on her father's small role in Russia's violent patriarchal structure and the chaos and depravity of the post-Soviet 1990s. Always humming in the background, the austere beauty and mercurial nature of the steppe reminds her of the contradictions at the heart of their relationship--both natural and forced, intimate and alienated. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOksana Vasyakina's second novel pierces the surface of human relations and reaches into the depths of shame, longing, and grief that lie beneath. In simple, precise prose, she paints a vivid portrait of estrangement and situates it in the broader context of her country's attempts to reckon with its troubled history.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOKSANA VASYAKINA\u003c\/b\u003e is a Russian poet and curator. Her debut poetry collection, \u003ci\u003eWomen's Prose\u003c\/i\u003e, was short-listed for the Andrei Bely Prize in 2016, and her debut novel, \u003ci\u003eWound, \u003c\/i\u003ewon the NOS Prize in 2021. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e ELINA ALTER\u003c\/b\u003e is a writer and translator. Her work appears in \u003ci\u003eThe Los Angeles Review of Books, BOMB, The Paris Review, The New England Review\u003c\/i\u003e, and elsewhere. She is the editor of \u003ci\u003eCircumference\u003c\/i\u003e, a journal of translation and international culture.\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 240\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.96 x 8.54 x 5.84 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e January 20, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51997417177389,"sku":"9781646223077","price":26.59,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0938\/3185\/6429\/files\/amNrIcbqMU9781646223077.webp?v=1776473434","url":"https:\/\/ishookbooks.com\/products\/steppe-hardcover","provider":"iShook Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}