"Vita Nostra" -- a cross between Lev Grossman\'s "The Magicians" and Elizabeth Kostova\'s "The Historian" ...] is the anti-Harry Potter you didn\'t know you wanted." -- The Washington Post"Vita Nostra has become a powerful influence on my own writing.
A complex blend of adventure, magic, science, and philosophy that probes the mysteries of existence, filtered through a distinct Russian sensibility, this astonishing work of speculative fiction--brilliantly translated by Julia Meitov Hersey--is reminiscent of modern classics such as Lev Grossman\'s The Magicians, Max Barry\'s Lexicon, and Katherine Arden\'s The Bear and the Nightingale, but will transport them to a place far beyond those fantastical worlds.. and suddenly all she could ever want. . .
Yet despite her fear, Sasha undergoes changes that defy the dictates of matter and time; experiences which are nothing she has ever dreamed of .
Using terror and coercion to keep the students in line, the school does not punish them for their transgressions and failures; instead, it is their families that pay a terrible price.
The books are impossible to read, the lessons obscure to the point of maddening, and the work refuses memorization.
Situated in a tiny village, she finds the students are bizarre, and the curriculum even more so.
Or, more precisely, she\'s been chosen. .
Sasha Samokhina has been accepted to the Institute of Special Technologies. .
Our life is brief .
It\'s a book that has the potential to become a modern classic of its genre, and I couldn\'t be more excited to see it get the global audience in English it so richly deserves." -- Lev Grossman Best Books of November 2018 -- Paste Magazine The definitive English language translation of the internationally acclaimed Russian novel--a brilliant dark fantasy combining psychological suspense, enchantment, and terror that makes us consider human existence in a fresh and provocative way. "Vita Nostra" -- a cross between Lev Grossman\'s "The Magicians" and Elizabeth Kostova\'s "The Historian" ...] is the anti-Harry Potter you didn\'t know you wanted." -- The Washington Post"Vita Nostra has become a powerful influence on my own writing
