Vita Nostra: A Novel Audiobook (Free)

The definitive British language translation from the internationally bestselling Russian novel-a brilliant dark fantasy with ‘the potential to be a modern classic’ (Lev Grossman), combining psychological suspense, enchantment, and terror that makes us consider human existence in a brand new and provocative way.

Our life is brief .

While travelling at the beach with her mother, Sasha Samokhina fits the mysterious Farit Kozhennikov under the most peculiar conditions. The teenage lady is about Vita Nostra: A Book powerless to refuse when this strange and unusual man with an air flow of the sinister directs her to perform a task with potentially scandalous effects. He benefits her effort with a strange golden coin.

As the times improvement, Sasha carries out other acts that she receives more coins from Kozhennikov. As summer time ends, her domineering coach directs her to go to a remote village and make use of her gold to enter the Institute of Particular Systems. Though she will not want to visit this unknown city or school, she also feels it is the only place she should be. Against her mother’s wishes, Sasha results in all that is familiar and begins her education.

As she quickly discovers, the institute’s ‘particular technologies’ are unlike anything she has ever encountered. The books are difficult to read, the lessons obscure to the idea of maddening, and the work refuses memorization. Using terror and coercion to keep the students in-line, the school will not punish them for their transgressions and failures; rather, their families pay a terrible cost. However despite her fear, Sasha undergoes adjustments that defy the dictates of matter and period; experiences which are nothing she has ever imagined . . . and instantly all she could ever need.

A complex mixture of adventure, magic, research, and school of thought that probes the mysteries of existence, filtered through a distinct Russian sensibility, this astonishing work of speculative fiction-brilliantly translated by Julia Meitov Hersey-is reminiscent of modern classics such as Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, Max Barry’s Lexicon, and Katherine Arden’s The Bear as well as the Nightingale, but will transport them to a place far beyond those fantastical worlds.