The stories in the collection are concerned primarily with the difficult process of coming of age, slotting themselves effortlessly into a well-worn but timeless literary genre. They are about young people who see themselves as different -outcasts, oddballs, freaks - and who, one way or another, grow up.
One of Anna’s strengths is that she is able to write convincingly about this process, her characters are honest, earnest and eager, while at the same melodramatic and naive: a reflection of a disaffected Russian youth. Through them we see the first generation to have unrestricted access to Western popular culture, primarily music, and Lavrinenko addresses directly the impact this changing cultural backdrop has had on contemporary Russia.
Anna Lavrinenko lives in Yaroslavl, Central Russia. A Law graduate she works as a company lawyer in Yaroslavl as well as taking an active part in the city’s cultural life, leading the largest reading groups there and reviewing books and films for the local press. Her short stories and essays have been published in many of Russia’s well respected literary and art magazines. In 2006 she was the Debut Prize finalist with her first published long story Eight Hours to Sunrise, which has also been made into a screenplay.