Lit in Translation

The Eighth Life (for Brilka)

Das achte Leben (Für Brilka)

Nino Haratischwili (born 1983)

Translated by Charlotte Collins, Ruth Martin

English editions

In English

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A chocolate maker's daughter, Stasia, is born in Georgia at the start of the twentieth century and marries a White Army officer who is soon sent off to Petrograd as revolution nears. Once Stalin takes power she flees with her children to Tbilisi, to her sister Christine, a famous beauty whom Beria, head of the secret police, sets his sights on. The generations that follow include Kitty, who is stripped of everything but finds her voice in London, her power-hungry brother Kostya, and his defiant daughter Elene and granddaughters Daria and Niza. In 2005, Niza, estranged from the family and living in Berlin, finds her runaway niece Brilka and begins to tell her where they come from.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form
Novel
Length
1279 pages in the original
Genres
Family, Historical, Politics (assigned by AI)
Set in
Georgia, Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, 1900–2005
First published
2014 by Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt
Author's age
31 when first published
ISBN

9783627002084 (original)

9781911617464 (Scribe UK, United Kingdom)

9781950354153 (Scribe US, United States)

9781950354146 (Scribe US, United States)

9781913348298 (Scribe UK, United Kingdom)

9780063485853 (HarperVia, United States)

More
Wikidata