The Gardens of Viverna

Yuri Buida is a prose writer, author of the novels “The Fifth Kingdom,” “Blue Blood,” “The Prussian Bride” (shortlisted for the “Russian Booker” Prize), and “Thief, Spy, and Murderer” (the “Big Book” Prize). His books have been translated into many languages. “Gardens of Wiverna” is a daring journey across three countries and four eras. A skilled sorcerer turns ugly women into beauties and becomes a beast; a merciful inquisitor sends Giordano Bruno to the stake and fights a dragon; a fearless rogue takes on a dark marquis and protects innocent girls from the sans-culottes; and a many-faced agent of the St. Petersburg police kills a grand duke and saves from Nazis the future President of France… And it’s all governed by Eros of History, an ancient and merciless god.

“When we went out into the yard, she suddenly turned to me and said, looking straight into my eyes: — You won’t have to choose between me and Notta, because love has no plural, the way beauty, iron, and God do.”