Endling : A Novel

LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE • WINNER OF THE ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE • WINNER OF THE GORDON BURN PRIZE • WINNER OF THE ATWOOD GIBSON WRITERS' TRUST FICTION PRIZE • SHORTLISTED FOR THE CLIMATE FICTION PRIZE • SHORTLISTED FOR THE VCU CABELL FIRST NOVELIST AWARD • LONGLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD • FINALIST FOR THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARDS

Set in Ukraine, an eccentric scientist breeding rare snails crosses paths with sisters posing as members of the marriage industry to find their activist mother. As Russia invades, they embark on a wild journey with kidnapped bachelors and a last-of-its-kind snail. This darkly comic novel explores survival, love, and hope in times of encroaching darkness.

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE WASHINGTON POST, THE NEW YORKER, NPR, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY, THE GUARDIAN, LIBRARY JOURNAL

“Startling and ambitious.”—New York Times • “Virtuosic.”—NPR, Fresh Air • “Brilliant and heart-stopping.”—Los Angeles Times

Ukraine, 2022. Yeva is a loner and a maverick scientist who lives out of her mobile lab.She scours the country’s forests and valleys, trying and failing to breed rare snails, while her relatives urge her to settle down and finally start a family of her own. What they don’t know: Yeva already dates plenty of men—not for love, but to fund her work—entertaining Westerners who come to Ukraine on guided romance tours believing they’ll find docile brides untainted by feminism and modernity.

Nastia and her sister, Solomiya, are also entangled in the booming marriage industry, posing as a hopeful bride and her translator while secretly searching for their missing mother, who vanished after years of fierce activism against the romance tours.

Together