A Matter of Death and Life - Andrey Kurkov

Despite some occasional critical bashings, A Matter of Death and Life is perhaps Ukranian Author, Andrey Kurkov's most accessible novel. Closer in length to a novella (a mere 111 pages), A Matter of Death and Life is a read in one sitting work and was released in the wake of his two successful Penguin novels (Death and the Penguin and Penguin Lost - both excellent). Kurkov himself has had a colourful career. Trained as a translator, he worked as such for the KGB and the Military Police prior to the fall of the Soviet Union. Just as the old USSR crumbled his first novel was published. He has also worked as a screenwriter and cameraman, but it seems to be ...