Bride and Groom

Book excerpt: Runner-up for 2015 Russian Booker Prize. From one of the most exciting voices in modern Russian literature, Alisa Ganieva, comes Bride and Groom, the tumultuous love story of two young city-dwellers who meet when they return home to their families in rural Dagestan. When traditional family expectations and increasing religious and cultural tension threaten to shatter their bond, Marat and Patya struggle to overcome obstacles determined to keep them apart, while fate seems destined to keep them together—until the very end. Alisa Ganieva (b. 1985) grew up in Makhachkala, Dagestan. Her literary debut, the novella Salam, Dalgat!, published under a male pseudonym, won the prestigious Debut Prize in 2009. Her debut novel, The Mountain and the Wall (Deep Vellum, 2015) was shortlisted for all of Russia's major literary awards and has been translated into seven languages. Bride and Groom is her second novel, and was shortlisted for the 2015 Russian Booker Prize upon its publication in Russia. Ganieva currently lives in Moscow, where she works as a journalist and literary critic. Dr. Carol Apollonio is Professor of the Practice of Russian at Duke University. Her most recent literary translations include Alisa Ganieva's debut novel, The Mountain and the Wall (Deep Vellum, 2015). She was awarded the Russian Ministry of Culture's Chekhov Medal in 2010, and she currently serves as President of the North American Dostoevsky Society.