100,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟ

Thanks for supporting our 100% NZ-owned independent bookstore โค๏ธ Overnight NZ-wide Delivery ๐Ÿš€

The Orphanage

A Novel
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Orphanage by Serhiy Zhadan is set in a war-torn eastern Ukraine and follows a teacher, Pasha, who sets out on a perilous journey to rescue his nephew from an orphanage. As he navigates the dangerous landscape and encounters the complexities of conflict, he grapples with questions of identity, belonging, and the human cost of war. The novel offers a haunting exploration of the impact of violence on ordinary lives and communities.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$3599
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 3-4 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this engrossing work of fiction if you're interested in immersive narratives that explore the complexities of life in conflict zones. The author's evocative storytelling and poignant depiction of human resilience in the face of adversity provide a profound insight into the human condition.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

A searing novel that excavates the human collateral damage wrought by the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A devastating story of the struggle of civilians caught up in the conflict in eastern Ukraine

Recalling the brutal landscape of The Road and the wartime storytelling of A Farewell to Arms, The Orphanage is a searing novel that excavates the human collateral damage wrought by the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine. When hostile soldiers invade a neighbouring city, Pasha, a thirty-five-year-old Ukrainian language teacher, sets out for the orphanage where his nephew Sasha lives, now in occupied territory. Venturing into combat zones, traversing shifting borders, and forging uneasy alliances along the way, Pasha realises where his true loyalties lie in an increasingly desperate fight to rescue Sasha and bring him home.

Written with a raw intensity, this is a deeply personal account of violence that will be remembered as the definitive novel of the war in Ukraine.

Series: The Margellos World Republic of Letters

View all
  • Ballerina
    A critically acclaimed #1 bestseller in Franceโ€”a novel of art, desire, and time lost and regained, from Nobel Prize winner Patrick Modiano. "Pithy and introspective. . . . Modiano delivers wondrous images of the tricks memory plays, sharply translated by Polizzotti. . . . Readers will savour this wistful narrative."โ€”Publishers Weekly (starred review) Paris, 1960s. A young dancer and single...
    Paperback
    $3599
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Look at the Lights, My Love
    A meditation on the big-box superstore, from 2022 Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux For half a century, French writer Annie Ernaux has restlessly explored stories and subjects often considered unworthy of artistic reflection. In this exquisite meditation, Ernaux turns her attention to the phenomenon of the big-box superstore, a ubiquitous feature of modern life that has received scant attention in literature....
    Paperback
    $3099
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • After the Circus
    A classic novel from recent Nobel Prize winner Patrick Modiano, now available to English-language readers in a superb new translation "Modiano at his best."โ€”Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal (starred review) One of the hallmarks of French author Patrick Modianoโ€™s writing is a singular ability to revisit particular motifs and episodes, infusing each telling with new detail and emotional nuance. In this...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • A Sensitive Person
    A Sensitive Person is a brutally funny, carnivalesque novel about love, death, and survival, from the Czech Republicโ€™s greatest living author. Tab, an itinerant Czech actor, travels around Europe on the theatre circuit with his partner, Soล„a, and their two young sons, attending festivals and performing plays. Confronted with growing resentment toward foreigners, Tab decides to return home to the...
    Paperback
    $4799
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Barefoot Doctor
    Barefoot Doctor is a profound, poignant story of a village healer and her community, crafted by one of the worldโ€™s great contemporary novelists. A complex and illuminating portrait of a group of healers in China . . . [that] offers profound insights about what it means to pursue and live a fulfilling life.โ€ โ€” Publishers Weekly A barefoot doctor herself,...
    By Can Xue
    Paperback
    $2899
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • By the Rivers of Babylon
    A profound and genre-defying work of literature about love, death, and illness from one of Portugalโ€™s most celebrated writers Incapacitated after the removal of a malignant tumour, the narrator, Antรณnio, spends his days in a Lisbon hospital enduring the humiliations of severe illness. As he drifts in and out of consciousness, he revisits fragments of his life and the people...
    Hardback
    $3899
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Chronicles of a Village
    An incantatory poetic novel that interweaves the legends, tragedies, and histories of a village in Vietnam. "The book bursts with characters, poetry, philosophy, romance, violence, and struggle. . . . A dreamlike, original, strangely hopeful book."โ€”Kirkus Reviews At the foot of Mun Mountain in central Vietnam, a self-appointed scribe collects the stories of his neighboursโ€”tales of love, nature, and warโ€”and...
    Paperback
    $3599
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Exiled Shadow
    Exiled Shadow is a virtuoso collage novel about narrative, identity, and exile, from international literary sensation Norman Manea. In this vibrant mosaic of voices, sources, and stories, the protagonist, known only as the Nomadic Misanthrope, leaves communist Romania and is reunited with his friend Gunther, an unrepentant Marxist exiled in Berlin. Their meeting sparks a spirited dialogue that endures throughout...
    Hardback
    $4799
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Five Spice Street
    The first full-length novel by Chinese author Can Xue to appear in English Five Spice Street tells the story of a street in an unnamed city whose inhabitants speculate on the life of a mysterious Madam X. The novel interweaves their endless suppositions into a work that is at once political parable and surreal fantasia. Some think X is 50...
    By Can Xue
    Paperback
    $7199
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Graveyard Clay
    A brilliant new translation of ร“ Cadhainโ€™s modern Irish literature masterpiece, meant to spark debate and comparison with Alan Titley's Dirty Dust, now with bonus materials on its history, reception, interpretations, adaptations, and more. "Gloriously attuned to the energy, copiousness, invective and ribaldry of the original Cre na Cille." โ€” Patricia Craig, Times Literary Supplement "Corrosively satirical and darkly comic....
    Paperback
    $3099
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • I Live in the Slums
    Longlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize A major new collection of stories by one of the most exciting and creative voices in contemporary Chinese literature. I Live in the Slums by Can Xue observes no obvious conventions of plot or characterisation. That is the only rule it follows. Instead, it tends to limn a disordered and poetic state, given...
    By Can Xue
    Hardback
    $5399
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Invisible Ink
    Patrick Modiano explores the boundaries of recollection in a "mesmerizing, enigmatic novel" (Publishers Weekly). "A mesmerizing, enigmatic novel... A story about growing old and the gaps and omissions that make up a life... Its dreamlike prose and a beguiling structural twist make it a worthy and satisfying addition to [Modianoโ€™s] accomplished oeuvre." โ€” Publishers Weekly "Nobel Prize winner Modianoโ€™s title...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The Orphanage is a powerful depiction of the turmoil in Eastern Ukraine, brilliantly translated by Reilly Costiganโ€‘Humes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler. Critics praise its vivid and lyrical prose, capturing both the sensory and visceral experiences of conflict. The book has been recognised with several accolades, including being shortlisted for the EBRD Literature Prize in 2022 and winning the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development 2022 Literature Award.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780300243017

Publisher: Yale University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 27 April 2021

Country: United States

Imprint: Yale University Press

Contributors:

  • Translated by Reilly Costigan-Humes
  • Translated by Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler
  • Translated by Reilly Costigan-Humes

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 21.0mm

Width: 127.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 363g

Pages: 336

About the Author

Serhiy Zhadan, recipient of the 2022 Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought and the 2022 German Peace Prize, is widely considered to be one of the most important young writers in Ukraine. He has received several international literature prizes and has twice won BBC Ukraineโ€™s Book of the Year award. His previous books include Mesopotamia and What We Live For, What We Die For: Selected Poems. Reilly Costiganโ€‘Humes translates literature from the Ukrainian and Russian. Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler is a translator and poet.

Also by Serhiy Zhadan

View all
  • Voroshilovgrad
    "Trainspotting set against a grim post-Soviet backdrop." - Newsweek World Literature Today's Recommended Summer Reads 2016 A city-dwelling executive heads home to take over his brother's gas station after his mysterious disappearance, but all he finds at home are mysteries and ghosts. The bleak industrial landscape of now-war-torn eastern Ukraine sets the stage for Voroshilovgrad, the Soviet era name of...
    Paperback
    $4600
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Sky Above Kharkiv
    From Ukraineโ€™s leading writer-activist comes an intimate account of resistance and survival in the earliest months of the Russian-Ukrainian war When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Serhiy Zhadan took to social media to coordinate a network of resistance workers and send messages of courage to his fellow Ukrainians. What began as a local organising effort exploded onto the...
    Hardback
    $3599
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Arabesques
    From an acclaimed Ukrainian author, snapshots of a city haunted by war The women, men, and children in Serhiy Zhadan's new collection of stories testify to the dignity of daily life in the war-battered Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Through a series of powerful vignettes, we witness the ordinary experiences of people in extraordinary times: weddings, love affairs, tense visits home...
    Paperback
    $3099
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • How Fire Descends
    A searing testament to poetryโ€™s power to define and defy injustice, from iconic writer-activist Serhiy Zhadan Since the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014, the Ukrainian poet Serhiy Zhadan has brought international attention to his countryโ€™s struggle through his unflinching poetry of witness. In this new selection of poems, forged entirely in wartime, Zhadan honours the memory of the lost...
    Paperback
    $3099
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • A Harvest Truce
    Brothers Anton and Tolik reunite at their family home to bury their recently deceased mother. An otherwise natural ritual unfolds under extraordinary circumstances: their house is on the front line of a war ignited by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Isolated without power or running water, the brothers' best hope for success and survival lies in the declared ceasefireโ€”the harvest...
    Paperback
    $4099
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • What We Live For, What We Die For
    An introduction to an original poetic voice from eastern Ukraine with deep roots in the unique cultural landscape of post-Soviet devastation. โ€œThis collection of Ukrainian writer Serhiy Zhadanโ€™s poems will likely cement his reputation as the unflinching witness to the turbulent social and political travails of his nation. With an acerbic tone that will seem familiar to admirers of Franz...
    Paperback
    $3099
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks

More from General Fiction

View all
  • The Wedding People
    'BEST READ OF THE YEAR SO FAR' THE TIMES 'BOOKS AS FUN AS THIS ONE ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN' GUARDIAN Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Rhode Island wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people โ€” but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall...
    Paperback
    $2399
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Throne of Glass Box Set (Paperback)
    Enter the realm. Unleash the darkness. Live the legend. Discover the worldwide phenomenon of the #1 New York Times-bestselling Throne of Glass series in this gorgeous 8-book box set! In a land without magic, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She has no love for the vicious king who rules from his throne of glass, but she has not...
    Set
    $12400
    Elsewhere:
    $15500
    (6)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Goal
    Welcome to Briar U!Get ready for your newest obsession . . . Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy!Read The Goal now for the perfect forced proximity romance! She's good at achieving her goals . . . College senior Sabrina James has her whole future planned out: graduate from college, kick...
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Red Rising
    The first book in the incredible New York Times bestselling series Darrow is a Helldiver, toiling beneath the surface of Mars. As a member of the Red caste, he performs grueling labor in the belief that his sacrifice will enable future generations to one day inhabit the surface of the Red Planet. The Reds are humankind's lowest caste, living in...
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Score
    Welcome to Briar U! Get ready for your newest obsession... Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy! Read The Score now for the perfect friends with benefits romance! He knows how to score, on and off the ice... Allie Hayes is in crisis mode. With graduation looming, she still doesn't have...
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    The Ballad of Falling Dragons [Special Deluxe edition]
    The No.1 Sunday Times bestselling sensation When the Moon Hatched continues with the second book in The Moonfall Series, The Ballad of Falling Dragonsโ€ฆ Raeveโ€™s thirst for vengeance continues to burn, as does her love for Kaan Vaegor โ€“ a staunch beacon from a past sheโ€™s yet to face. With Rekkโ€™s blood still fresh on her hands, she learns the...
    Hardback
    $5999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Theo of Golden
    THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING PHENOMENON'For anything to be truly good, there must be love in it. Nothing is what it's supposed to be if love is not at the core.' One morning, a stranger arrives in the town of Golden. No one knows who he is or where he came fromโ€ฆHis name is Theo and he's arrived there by chance โ€“...
    Paperback
    $2899
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    (5)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Yesteryear
    A BOLD AND BITING SATIRE. WILL HAVE YOU GASPING TO THE FINAL PAGE โ€” Nita Prose WICKEDLY FUNNY, BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND FRIGHTENINGLY PERCEPTIVE โ€” Abigail Dean INVENTIVE, ADDICTIVE, A WILD RIDE โ€” Ashley Audrain SHOT THROUGH WITH HUMOUR AND LACED WITH DARKNESS โ€” Clare Mackintosh The Stepford Wives meets The Handmaid's Tale โ€” Hannah Deitch My name was Natalie Heller...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3699
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Golden Son
    ENDER'S GAME meets THE HUNGER GAMES in this, the second in an extraordinary trilogy from an incredible new voice.'I'm still playing games. This is just the deadliest yet.' Darrow is a rebel forged by tragedy. For years he and his fellow Reds worked the mines, toiling to make the surface of Mars inhabitable. They were, they believed, mankind's last hope....
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Voracious
    From USA Today bestselling author and TikTok sensation comes the gripping, steamy dark romance series that everyone is talking about!'Filled with TENSION, HEARTBREAK and ELECTRIC CHEMISTRY. This one will tear your heart right out of your chest before tossing it back in and sewing you up' No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Brynne Weaver'Leigh Rivers is THE QUEEN OF...
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Mistake
    Welcome to Briar U! Get ready for your newest obsession . . . Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy! Read The Mistake now for the perfect second chance romance! He's a player in more ways than one . . . College junior John Logan can get any girl he wants....
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Project Hail Mary
    Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, the SUNDAY TIMES and NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of The Martian, offers a gripping new adventure in hard science fiction. With endorsement from notable figures such as Barack Obama and a slew of five-star reviews, this novel promises a thrilling and intellectually stimulating journey. Ryland Grace, a lone astronaut, finds himself on a...
    Paperback
    $2399
    Elsewhere:
    $2400
    (4)
    In Stock
    Ships today

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.