Good Life Elsewhere

A group of adventurous villagers attempt to escape Moldova for Italy in this "outstanding . . . darkly hilarious" novel of poverty and hope in Eastern Europe (The Wall Street Journal). The Moldovian village of Larga is depressed in more ways than one and its remaining citizens long for a better life. Meanwhile, just over the border in Italy, the economy is booming. But when a group of Largans decide to take fate into their own hands and attempt to cross the border, their efforts result in a tragicomic romp of post-Soviet shenanigans. In this "simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking tale," an Orthodox priest is deserted by his wife for an art-dealing atheist; a mechanic redesigns his tractor for travel by air and sea; thousands of villagers take to the road on a modern-day religious crusade to make it to the promised land of Italy; meanwhile, politicians remain politicians (Publishers Weekly). "A touching and hilarious chronicle about the age-old European yearning for one more chance. A chance that may never come." —Gary Shteyngart