Alindarka’s Children is a bold and imaginative novel by Alhierd Bacharevič that fuses surreal humor with a stirring manifesto for the survival of the Belarusian language and soul. Set against the backdrop of a forest where children are forced to forget their native tongue through drugs, therapy, and coercion, the story follows siblings Alicia and Avi as they escape captivity and embark on an extraordinary journey. Their adventure is marked by vivid, lyrical descriptions—from the mind-bending, sourish berries that dazzle the senses to the kaleidoscopic songs of the timber. Along the way, they encounter a host of unforgettable characters, including the conniving language-traitor McFinnie, the sinister Bannock the Bogill, and a mysterious wolf, all of whom deepen the novel’s exploration of identity, memory, and cultural resistance.
Translated from the Belarusian into English by Jim Dingley and Petra Reid.
This volume is a new paperback edition.
