One Thousand and A Night as Told by Larissa, Construction Shock-Worker

by Marina Sonkina

One Thousand and A Night as Told by Larissa, Construction Shock-Worker is both a comic and tragic saga of a Ukrainian-Russian-Jewish family, headed by an irreverent, no-nonsense eighty-year-old Larissa, whose vitality and life-affirming wit overcomes all the hurdles thrown her way by the Soviet regime. Both lighthearted and tragic, this tale of suffering and love takes us to Ukraine, central Russia, Siberia, Montenegro and Canada. The “silent generations” of the Soviet history speak through the voice of a woman who is trying to come to terms with the dramatic past of her two countries―Russia and Ukraine―as well as her own family history.

250 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2025

Reviews

[Rob Jeffery · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really great gem of a book. Fiction, but talks about what life was like for so many in the USSR. Nuanced and authentic.