Why read The Half Life of Valery K?

Book cover of The Half Life of Valery K

Book description

**Shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize** A SUNDAY TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2022 The Times Historical Fiction Book of the Month The truth must come out. In 1963, in a Siberian gulag, former nuclear specialist Valery Kolkhanov has mastered what it takes to survive: the right connections to…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Half Life of Valery K as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Judit Neurink

Author

A story that I did not know about, and it shocked me to find out it is based on reality. It is the story of Ozjorks, a Russian town where, in 1957, during a nuclear explosion, enormous amounts of radiation ended up in the air.

It was shocking to read how the inhabitants became like lab rats. And how a scientist arrives to work on research there and has not been told of the risks. I have great respect for how the writer must have researched the story and then mixed it with fantasy to make a book that kept…

From Judit's list on greatest mix of reality and fiction.

Catherine Hokin

Author

The Half Life of Valery K is perfect for anybody fascinated by the story of Chernobyl. It takes place in the early 1960s in a mysterious unnamed town, known only as City 40, hidden deep in a forest inside the Soviet Union.

A doctor has been tasked with studying the effect of radiation on animals, except that everything he has been told and believes is a lie. It manages to be both brutal and tender, bleak and incredibly beautiful, which is no mean feat.

I devoured it, and I will read it again. I also cried quite a bit. Stunning.

From Catherine's 3 favorite reads in 2023.