Translator’s notes
about Anna Nemzer and her book, her style, the Russian vernacular and why to read it
At first glance upon picking up the novel ‘Prisoner’ we see a tale about war and the trials and tribulations that conflict can visit not just on the people who take part in it but also on their families and friends who are left behind at home. War is portrayed as being harsh and unforgiving, led by people who are themselves harsh and unforgiving.
On further and more detailed perusal of the book, we see that the characters are not just prisoners in a war zone or just captives of the consequences that war brings, but are captives of the Communist Gulag system, and of the totalitarian regime under Josef Stalin and are confined by race and circumstance as they attempt to build their lives
