Zuleikha (novel)
Zuleikha (Russian: Зулейха́ открыва́ет глаза́, Zuleihka otkrivaet glaza [Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes]) is a debut novel written in 2015 by the Russian author Guzel Yakhina. It describes the lives of various people, including the titular protagonist, struggling to survive in exile in Siberia from 1930 to 1946.
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| Author | Guzel Yakhina |
|---|---|
| Original title | Зулейха открывает глаза |
| Translator | Lisa C. Hayden (English) |
| Country | The Russian Federation |
| Language | Russian |
| Publisher | AST Yelena Shubina |
Publication date | 2015 |
Published in English | 2019 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| ISBN | 978-1-786-07349-5 |
The book won the Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award and the Big Book Award in 2015. It has been translated into twenty-one languages.
Plot summary
In 1930, Zuleikha lives in a small Tatar village in the Soviet Union with her husband Murtaza and her mother-in-law. As part of the dekulakization campaign, her husband is executed and she is sent into exile in Siberia.
In the harsh climate survival is very difficult. She gets to know her fellow exiles and begins to build a new life.
The novel is a historical fiction inspired by stories told to the author by her grandmother, although real incidents in the novel are based on the memoirs of other people.[1] The fictional setting of the novel is based on the labor settlement Pit-Gorodok in Severo-Yeniseysky District, where the author's grandmother was exiled as a child along with her parents.
Adaptions
A Russian language, eight episode television mini-series, Zuleikha otkrivaet glaza (Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes), premiered on the TV channel Russia 1 in 2020. The series stars Chulpan Khamatova, Evgeniy Morozov and Sergey Makovetskiy and was directed by Egor Anashkin.
References
- Alexandra Guzeva (2016-04-08). "A Muslim woman and a communist find love in Russia's best book of 2015". Retrieved 2019-04-05.