During the first stage of the 5th season of the book award “Espreso. Readers’ Choice 2021” received 210 applications from 31 publishing houses of Ukraine. The organizing committee carefully checked all publications sent by publishing houses for compliance with the requirements. After that, Long lists of books for the competition were formed in three nominations: “Literature for adults”, “Literature for teenagers” and “Literature for children”.
By the second stage, 84 book novelties from 19 publishing houses of Ukraine made it to the Long List of Books in the “Literature for Adults” category.
The first part of the list:
“Rejected and resurrected” Stepan Protsyuk (“Discursus” publishing house)
The new book of essays by Stepan Protsyuk is essays about iconic Ukrainian writers whose destinies are no less impressive than their creativity. Fanatic of the new art Mykhailo Semenko, steely and tender Lesya Ukrainka, genius with a frozen heart Pavlo Tychyna… Unexpected angles of well-known figures fascinate and confuse. The second part of the publication is the author’s reaction to contemporary social events in Ukraine. The final section is the latest interviews with the author.
“Blood of Krykhdem” Andrii Gulkevich (NK-Bohdan publishing house)
The bloody war did not end with the capture of Argat. An old enemy, who had long been waiting for an opportunity to show his strength, started a campaign against Krykhdem from the North. Deylar joined the army of Prince Dunstan, the heir to the Crichdem throne. Two great armies converged on the battlefield, designed to decide the fate of all of Vesper. So the further course of the story depends on the actions of the heroes, and a small shift is enough to sweep away everything or leave it intact. At the same time, in the duchy of Montaigne, a conflict broke out between the cruel nobleman and the simple peasants and other disadvantaged people who were unfairly offended by him. In between bloody battles, Deylar almost becomes a victim of treachery, finds new friends and tries to understand the secrets of ancient magic.
“Carpathian trap” Serhii Ukhachevskyi (“NK-Bohdan” publishing house)
This story is based on the fate of real people and events that took place during 1941-1951 on the territory of Great Britain, the German Reich, Poland, and the USSR. The main character is Colonel Stepan Kryzhen, a Soviet intelligence officer who always plays his game: both fighting the Nazis, and becoming a resident of the MGB in Western Ukraine, and fighting the system in which he has to work. Multi-track espionage operations, initiated in the offices of Moscow and London, lose their meaning when he enters the game. The book is written in a lively language, with humor, living characters and events that pull you into a whirlpool of intrigue from the first words and lead to the last line.
“Legends of unconquered winter” Serhii Ukhachevskyi (“NK-Bogdan” publishing house)
The novel “Legends of Unconquered Winter” is a harsh and frank story about the events on the Maidan and outside it, about the little-known exploits of the rebels and their daily life, about the “heroes” of the anti-Maidan and its sponsors. No one wrote about the Maidan in 2013-14. The events of the novel take place in the streets and squares of Kyiv, in the Maidan and anti-Maidan tents, hotel apartments in Vienna and Paris, the offices of the Bankova and the Kremlin. And behind the events raging in the novel, there are other characters – politicians. For them, the Revolution is just a bargaining chip to achieve their own goals. And when the people of Maidan volunteered to defend the integrity of Ukraine, the entire political gang rushed to power…
“Autumn season of deaths” Andriy Kokotyukha (“NK-Bogdan” publishing house)
A serial killer is active on the campus of one of the Kyiv universities. His actions are unmotivated, and his next steps are unpredictable. Residents of nearby hostels are terrified, and law enforcement agencies are following behind, detaining persons not involved in crimes. By the will of fate, journalist Andriy Shkarada intervenes in the investigation, and he exposes the merciless maniac-psychopath, almost paying for it with his own life.
“Prophet” Andriy Kokotyukha (“NK-Bohdan” publishing house)
Policemen are also imprisoned for the sins of their colleagues. This is what happened to Serhii Gorily: he served time for his own and someone else’s. I returned to my native Konotop, I need to start life with a clean slate. But it cannot be anyone but a detective. There was an opportunity to prove it. A local businessman complained to the police: a woman called a witch prophesied his death. The man was laughed at – but he is really dying. The investigation is conducted by Gorily’s friend, to whom the same prophetess also predicts death. And when this prophecy also comes true, Gorily understands: everything is serious. He does not believe in mysticism, he is looking for a rational explanation. But when there is one step left to the truth – Serhiy himself receives a deadly prophecy… Andrii Kokotyukha’s novel “The Prophetess” continues the cycle of Gothic detective stories, which includes “Legend of the Headless” and “Secret Source”. The plot of the novel became the basis of the TV series “Triple Defense”, which premiered in 2016.
“Marriage games of frogs” Andriy Kokotyukha (“NK-Bogdan” publishing house)
1991, hot summer. Seven young men suddenly get a chance to get rich quickly. One million is at stake, the money will help each of them solve their own problems. Everyone is ready to take risks, everything is at stake, such luck only happens once in a lifetime. Getting hold of a million turned out to be even easier than these dilettantes imagined. Now the most difficult thing is to divide the treasure. Meanwhile, the robbed began a real hunt for young, inexperienced robbers. Will you be able to save yourself if you cannot safely turn your back on your friend in misfortune… In the mid-1990s, the literary debut of “Marriage games of frogs” immediately caused an ambiguous reaction in the Ukrainian literary environment. What made the debutant Andrii Kokotyukha famous. The new edition of the novel is supplemented with an afterword about the history of the book’s creation and its adventures after publication. And it is also an original document of the era, which the author experienced and recorded, and some of the unfortunate signs of which are still evident today.
“That’s how we were friends with Moscow” Valentin Severyniuk (“NK-Bogdan” publishing house)
The work covers the historical period from the beginning of the XIII century. (disintegration of the Old Kyiv Russian state, Polish-Lithuanian times, Cossacks) — until the beginning of the XXI century. (the collapse of the USSR, post-Soviet transformations, Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine). The leading theme of all events is the socio-political and cultural-spiritual dimensions of Ukrainian-Russian relations. The internal structure of the poem is determined by 40 chapters-verses, each of which has an emotionally emphasized ending-refrain: “So we were friends with Moscow…”. The book cites and uses many documentary sources and studies. Notes contain comments on historical facts, biographical references, explanations of foreign and rarely used words.
Roksolana. Union with the Jagiellonians” by Oleksandr Shutko (“NK-Bohdan” publishing house)
The novel highlights events from the life of Ukrainian Roksolana (Hurrem Sultan), the wife of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, which took place in 1540–1551, when she was at the zenith of fame and power. This woman had a significant influence on the politics of the Ottoman Empire. She acted as an intermediary for the husband-sultan regarding the establishment of good-neighborly relations with the Polish Jagiellonian dynasty – the Hungarian Queen Isabella, her mother Bona Sforza and her brother – the Polish King Sigismund II Augustus. The basis of the novel is Roksolana’s love and diplomatic correspondence, archival documents, reports of European ambassadors in Istanbul, Ottoman chroniclers, and information from thorough investigations by Turkish, Polish, Ukrainian, German, Italian, and American historians. In the novel, not only events and characters are real, but also their dialogues, which history has preserved to this day.
“The Last Letter” Viktor Yankevych (“NK-Bohdan” publishing house)
The eternal mystery of love. Its unpredicted beginnings, the flash of passion, its extinction… But some people are possessed by it completely, almost to the point of madness… This novel will immerse you, dear reader, in the difficult collision of another love story, which, like everything else in this world, is unique. For a wide range of connoisseurs of sensual, psychological prose.
“Roksolana: biography” by Oleksandr Shutko (“NK-Bogdan” publishing house)
This book is devoted to the biography of the most famous Ukrainian sultana, the founder of the “Women’s Sultanate” in the Ottoman Empire – Roksolana (Hyurrem), who by the will of fate from a simple captive became first the beloved concubine, and later the only wife of the most powerful sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and the mother of his successor – Selim II. The publication contains nine of her love letters to Sultan Suleiman (one of them published in Ukrainian for the first time) and four diplomatic ones addressed to the Hungarian Queen Isabella Jagiellonian, the Polish Queen Sigismund II Augustus and the Persian princess Sultan Beygum, the sister of Shah Taghmasp, as well as the answers sent to Roksolana by these monarchs. At the end of the book, it is told about the honoring of this great woman, her role in the history of Ukrainians and Turks, and how she inspired artists to create wonderful works.
“Mysterious Dukhnovych” Oleksandr Gavrosh (“NK-Bogdan” publishing house)
In the second, significantly expanded edition of “The Mysterious Dukhnovych”, the well-known journalist and writer Oleksandr Gavrosh offers his own reading of the figure of the priest and educator Oleksandr Dukhnovych (1803–1865), around whom many controversies are still raging: Muscophile, separatist or initiator of the Ukrainian revival beyond the Carpathians? This is the first book about the most famous Transcarpathian of the 19th century, published outside of historical Transcarpathia. It included excerpts from diaries, letters, autobiographies of the wake-up call, presented in modern literary language, as well as articles by Oleksandr Gavros, his story about Dukhnovich’s childhood “Family Secret” and a play about the last hours of the life of the spiritual father of the Silver Earth “The Kindest Friend”. The book also contains an interview with the most famous spiritualist Olena Rudlovchak, the opinions of famous researchers, a poem by the Shevchenko laureate Petr Skunets.
“Ivan Kotlyarevsky: between the empire and Ukraine” Petro Kralyuk (“NK-Bohdan” publishing house)
The creative biography of Ivan Kotlyarevskyi is considered for the first time in the context of Ukrainian history of the XVII-XVIII centuries, as a continuation of the ancient Ukrainian literary tradition. The publication is aimed not only at connoisseurs and lovers of the native language, but also at researchers of European history and culture of the 18th-19th centuries.
“Dreams against Palm Sunday” Vitaliy Levun (publishing house “Astrolabia”
In the novel “Night Dreams against Palm Sunday” reality is intertwined with the bizarre visions and memories of the main character Ulyana. Thirty-three dreams, interspersed with proverbs, sayings, mythological images, flavored with words of local sayings, lead the reader through a personal family history, closely related to the tragic circumstances of the life of Ukrainians in the 20th century. It is a baroque mixture of grotesque and drama, where death borders on eros, mysticism – on inevitable reality, faith in fate – on an alternative version of the development of events. At the beginning of the novel, the lodger Mykola Ivanovich comes to the house of the widow Ulyana, who constantly locks himself in his hut and conducts his bizarre experiments there. Will he be able to complete what he came for? Where did Volodka disappear from old family photos? And what kind of child suddenly appeared in Ulyana’s yard, like two drops of water like her long-dead son?
“Tadush” Artem Pospelov (publishing house “Publishing House 21”)
Zoika is about four thousand days old, and the boy chose this name for himself. It’s just that first a dog dies in his family, and a little later Grandfather dies. After the death of Grandfather, the family begins to fall apart. Zoik forgets the past, but remembers that he is to blame for what happened. The only one who knows how things really were is a friend named Kid, whom he has never seen. With his help, Zoik tries to fix everything. He is looking for a place for Grandpa’s death in his life, and with it the answer to the question – does love really mean living happily ever after? Published in cooperation with OVO Literary Agency.
“Jellyfish Reflex” by Roksolana Syom (Publishing House 21)
No one canceled the laws of nature – the stronger wins. But what if you don’t know the rules of survival in a hostile environment? When you are helpless before the challenges of fate? And how to confront the closest relatives, for example, mother, whose guardianship violates your own boundaries? Will the heroes of this novel be able to avoid the disaster?
Published in cooperation with OVO Literary Agency. Finalist of the International Literary Competition of novels, film scripts, plays, song lyrics and works for children “CORONATION OF WORDS-2020”.
“Your M.” Iryna Zhurakovska (publishing house “Publishing House 21”)
Ukrainian Maryna and German Maria have completely different ideas about happiness, and both go to look for it far from home – in Paris. Maria knows exactly what she wants from life: to do science, play the violin and find true love. Marina, on the other hand, knows what she definitely does not want – to work as a waitress and deal with her father all her life. “Your M.” is a modern Ukrainian novel about what it is like to be a woman. About finding yourself, about friendship, about very different love, about loneliness, about stereotypes, about motherhood and a little about quantum physics.
Published in cooperation with OVO Literary Agency.
Magnum by Ilya Makarenko (Publishing House 21)
“Magnum” has plenty of everything: rain and wine, love and betrayal, desperation and cowardice, Ukrainian workers and Portuguese revolutionaries. For various reasons, including the war in the east of Ukraine, the hero of the novel finds himself in the extreme west of Europe, where he accidentally plunges into a tragic family history that began almost half a century ago. However, the real main character here is Lisbon – a bright and friendly city that is impossible not to love, but which, however, hides many secrets from prying eyes.
“Radio Night” Yuriy Andruhovich (publishing house “Meridian Czernowitz“)
As in “real reality”, another revolution has been defeated. Maybe because she lost her mysterious leader. Joseph Rothsky (not to be confused with Joseph Brodsky or Joseph Roth), the musical hero of the barricades, is forced to flee somewhere, risking the fate of many other Josephs. He is being persecuted, and the regime’s special services are only half the trouble. There’s also an inappropriate love to deal with and a bank secret to deal with. Prison experience and an involuntarily successful terrorist attack. As well as mind and oblivion, laughter and darkness, cold and hell, irony and pain. The last hiding place from where it is allowed to conduct the night ether. Is it really the last?..
“Radio Night” is the most poignant and at the same time the most lyrical work of Yuriy Andruhovych. A space where adventure romance meets fantasy and David Bowie meets traveling musicians of the Middle Ages.
“Order of Silent Women” (poetry collection) Kateryna Kalytko (publishing house “Meridian Czernowitz“)
The portrait of a Ukrainian woman more often defines what she is silent about than what she speaks about. But without the experience of this silence, there would be no voice that sounds in this collection. A voice that defends the right to speak honestly about acute grief, generational trauma, stereotypes and archetypes, roots in burning soil, the courage of love and the disappointment of emptiness behind masks. Ignoring objections in excessive frankness or thorniness, in the abyss and darkness. Because that’s the only way they remain themselves – but also embody the experience of hundreds of still speechless sisters.
Paintings by Kateryna Kosyanenko are used in the artwork and on the cover.
“Aviation Psalm” (poetry collection) Serhiy Zhadan (publishing house “Meridian Czernowitz“)
These poems were written during 2020. The place where they wrote lies on the hills. This meant the presence of a wide horizon line and a large amount of air. And there were also many trees and birds, there were streams, ponds and the even, distant breathing of the city beyond the horizon. A change in optics somehow leads to a change in writing. This is what the book is mainly about: how landscapes shape us, how trees give us verticality, and lakes give us depth, how spring greenery teaches us optimism, and summer rivers teach us generosity. Simple knowledge that helps to appreciate every voice heard in the morning.
The photo of Marisa Myanovska is used in the artwork and on the cover.
“Because it is so” (rough book of short prose) Taras Prokhasko (“Meridian Czernowitz” publishing house)
This rough book of short prose is built on the model of a clepsydra – a water clock. Ten years of cognitive experience are scattered in a few dozen notes, a few thousand sentences. By reading them, you can deal with time in every way. Depending on the jet setting. Pass through yourself at full strength for several days; release almost drop by drop for several years… Or find your own abnormal game with the rhythm of twisting and unscrewing the clock face.
“Theory of Revenge” by Alla Serova (“Kalvariya” publishing house)
At one time, the author’s first novel “Rules of the Game” won the Grand Prix of the very first International Literary Contest “Coronation of the Word”, causing a heated discussion in the jury before that. Some could not believe that this was an original work by a Ukrainian author. Then there were the publications of several of her other novels, three of which were published in Calvary, and the granting of licenses for audiobooks. And then, at that time, one of the two most powerful Russian publishing houses acquired 21 licenses to publish her novels and even created a separate series for her. True, there was already an author of thriller books there, whose pseudonym coincided with the real name and surname of our writer, so the books were published under a pseudonym.
The new novel of the Zaporozhian author opens a new series titled “Rules of the Game”. Rita Lukash is a realtor with experience. Over the years of work, she got used to any surprises, but it was too much even for her: in the apartment she was showing the client, the corpse of Rytyna’s former lover was found. With the help of her lawyer friend, Rita miraculously manages to avoid arrest – the police strongly suspect that she is the killer. That same evening, another corpse is found in Rita’s apartment, but here even the police understand that she was not involved in the murder. And although Rita convinces everyone that she has no idea who wants to “frame” her, somewhere on the subconscious level, she guesses that this is a trace from her distant past, when Rita Lukash was still Anna Dubynska…
“Politicians do not lie. 10 laws of interaction between politicians and voters” Vadym Denysenko, Yuriy Vishnevskyi (“Nash Format” publishing house)
Why did Churchill lose the election in July 1945, two months after the victory over Germany? Why is the era of Duda lasting so long in Poland, and Orban in Hungary? Why was Poroshenko defeated in the spring of 2019, and Zelensky ended up in the president’s chair? There are many such questions, and the answers to them can be found in many coincidences. However, the solution to all these victories and defeats lies in the laws of political science, which operate in politics with the same inescapable force as physical laws in nature. This book is about ten laws of political science, with vivid examples from world and Ukrainian modern history. The authors tried to satisfy the curiosity of those who want to understand how the world of politics works and why it seems so strange.
“In Simple Words. How to Understand Your Emotions” Mark Livin, Ilya Poludyonnyi (“Nash Format” publishing house)
Mind: everything is fine! You have a job, a roof over your head, food and friends. Emotions: something so sad. If you have experienced something similar and couldn’t figure out what it is, this book is for you. In it, journalist Mark Livin and psychotherapist Ilya Poludionny talk about emotions and feelings in simple words. They learn to decipher the messages that come into the chat with themselves: “You’ve been sad for several days. Pay attention to this.” Or: “It seems that you are jealous of a friend who found a new job. Maybe it’s time for you to change something too?”. Structurally, the book consists of 20 chapters. Each is devoted to a separate feeling or emotion: anger, envy, resentment, shame, loneliness, etc.
The authors popularly teach the theory, explain topics using examples from their own lives, and share exercises for practice. And a lot is said about current realities. The book is not a duplicate of the Simply Words podcast. It can be read regardless of whether you have listened to the episodes or not. It is deeper, but no less accessible.
“Fingers in the Sand” Stepan Protsyuk (publishing house “Nash Format”)
Life is “one chosen scenario out of many others neglected or rejected.” What does the Soso boy choose: priesthood or tyranny? What will the composer Fyodor choose: the love of his life or a marriage with an unloved woman for the sake of a career? How will an honored artist end up in a psychiatric hospital? Will the student Ivan renounce the idea of a cathedral Ukraine and what will his nationalist friend Mykyta choose? Against the background of Soviet Ukraine of the 1950s and the cult of Stalin, the dramas of people who make their choice in a world of pain and suffering unfold. Everything passes, only the thirst for life “has in some places a chance to stand under all the fingers of change and the sand of renunciation…”.
“Skoropadsky and Crimea. From opposition to joining” Serhii Gromenko (publishing house “Nash Format”)
Whose Crimea now and who should it belong to in the future? What should be the status of the peninsula: an independent state, a member of a union or a subject of a federation, an autonomy or a region under a foreign protectorate? Who should have the right to govern Crimea — the ethnic majority or the indigenous peoples? How should Ukraine deal with the peninsula — give it the widest possible powers or introduce direct management from Kyiv, persuade the Crimeans with a kind word or introduce a ruthless economic blockade? No, these issues are not on the agenda of 2014 after the Russian annexation of Crimea – they appeared before Ukraine a hundred years ago. This book tells how the Ukrainian State and the international community responded to the challenges regarding Crimea at the end of the First World War.
“The last commander of the UPA. The Life and Struggle of Vasyl Kuk” by Alina Ponypalyak (publishing house “Nash Format”)
There are people of eras, and there are people of several eras. Vasyl Kuk, the last commander of the UPA, was such a person. He was born before the First World War, survived the horrors of the Second World War, the rise and fall of the UPA, was captured by the Soviets and, together with Ukraine, received the desired freedom in 1991. How did family trouble affect his views? When did he catch fire with the idea of armed struggle? How did he survive the death of brothers Ilka and Ilaria, who were executed for Ukrainian statehood? How did he build the OUN network in Dnipropetrovsk and stay underground in Volyn and Galicia? How did he continue the quiet struggle in the 1970s and 1980s and get a “second wind” after independence? Historian Alina Ponypalyak answers all these questions. The author researched archival data and memories of people who knew Vasyl Kuk personally, talked with relatives, visited the place where he was born, lived and worked. All this helped to show what Cook was like and how he fought for Ukrainian independence.
“Apricot Bookstore” by Orest Osiichuk (publishing house “Nash Format”)
Due to poverty, Maria Faryniak is forced to give her son, nine-year-old Mykhailo, to be raised by her late husband’s relatives: uncle Stefan, the owner of a bookstore, and aunt Kasia, a strict woman who is not happy about the appearance of someone else’s child in the house. Thus begins the story of Miska Farinyak, a boy from the beginning of the 20th century, which is strangely intertwined with the story of Mykhailo Farinyak, a man from the beginning of the 21st century. This is a story of childhood friendship and unchildish betrayals, family skeletons in the closet and love, which through the centuries saves lives and mysteriously unites two namesakes without common blood.
In the second stage, each expert will choose five candidate books from this list, which they will place in order of ranking.
Accordingly:
1st place (5 points) — winner and further
II place (4 points),
III place (3 points),
IV place (2 points),
V place (1 point).
The organizing committee, by counting the points, will determine 3 books – finalists in the “Literature for adults” nomination, which will go to the third stage of voting. These finalist works will be presented at the discretion of readers in libraries almost throughout Ukraine. During this voting, the final winner will be determined.
Book prize “Espreso. Readers’ Choice” was founded by the “Espreso” TV channel and is supported by the NGO “Demforum”. Its presentation took place on May 18, 2017 at the “Book Arsenal” in Kyiv.
The award is designed to celebrate the best Ukrainian modern literary novelties of the year, to support the interest of Ukrainians in reading books by domestic authors. To help readers choose interesting books, and publishers to find a way to readers. The winners of the Prize will be announced at the beginning of December 2021 on the air of the “Espreso” TV channel, on the “Espreso.TV” and “Demforum” websites.
