Julia Phillips – författare

A stunning debut from an acclaimed travel writer, Disappearing Earth is about two sisters who go missing on the remote volcanic peninsula of Kamchatka. Clues to the crime lie in the lives - and stories of violence and loss - of twelve women in the girls' rural Russian community. As the police quickly lose interest in the case, these women never stop searching and hoping. Beautifully written, thought-provoking, intense and cleverly wrought, this is the first novel from a mesmerising new talent.

Sam and Elena dream of another life. On the island off the coast of Washington where they were born and raised, they and their mother struggle to survive. Sam works on the ferry that delivers wealthy mainlanders to their vacation homes while Elena bartends at the local golf club, but even together they can’t earn enough to get by, stirring their frustration about the limits that shape their existence. Then one night on the boat, Sam spots a bear swimming the dark waters of the channel. Where is it going? What does it want? When the bear turns up by their home, Sam, terrified, is more convinced than ever that it’s time to leave the island. But Elena responds differently to the massive beast. Enchanted by its presence, she throws into doubt the desire to escape and puts their long-held dream in danger. A story about the bonds of sisterhood and the mysteries of the animals that live among us—and within us—Bear is a propulsive, mythical, richly imagined novel from one of the most acclaimed young writers in America.

Spellbinding, moving — evoking a fascinating region on the other side of the world — this suspenseful and haunting story announces the debut of a profoundly gifted writer.

One August afternoon, on the shoreline of the Kamchatka peninsula at the northeastern edge of Russia, two girls - sisters, eight and 11 — go missing. In the ensuing weeks, then months, the police investigation turns up nothing. Echoes of the disappearance reverberate across a tightly woven community, with the fear and loss felt most deeply among its women.

Taking us through a year in Kamchatka, Disappearing Earth enters with astonishing emotional acuity the worlds of a cast of richly drawn characters, all connected by the crime: a witness, a neighbor, a detective, a mother. We are transported to vistas of rugged beauty — densely wooded forests, open expanses of tundra, soaring volcanoes, and the glassy seas that border Japan and Alaska — and into a region as complex as it is alluring, where social and ethnic tensions have long simmered, and where outsiders are often the first to be accused.

In a story as propulsive as it is emotionally engaging, and through a young writer's virtuosic feat of empathy and imagination, this powerful novel brings us to a new understanding of the intricate bonds of family and community, in a Russia unlike any we have seen before.

''Thrilling and propulsive, glorious and terrifying. Julia Phillips is a brilliant writer'' Ann PatchettThey were sisters and they would last past the end of time.Sam and Elena dream of another life. On the island off the coast of Washington where they were born and raised, they and their mother struggle to survive. Sam works on the ferry that delivers wealthy mainlanders to their vacation homes while Elena does bar work at the local golf club, but even together they can''t earn enough to get by, stirring their frustration about the limits that shape their existence.Then one night on the boat, Sam spots a bear swimming the dark waters of the channel. Where is it going? What does it want? When the bear turns up by their home, Sam, terrified, is more convinced than ever that it''s time to leave the island. But Elena responds differently to the massive beast. Enchanted by its presence, she throws into doubt the desire to escape and puts their long-held dream in danger.A story about the bonds of sisterhood and the mysteries of the animals that live among us - and within us - Bear is a propulsive, mythical, richly imagined novel from one of the most acclaimed young writers at work today.

De två systrarna Aljona och Sofia, elva och åtta år, leker för sig själva på en stenstrand på Kamtjatka i slutet av ett långt och ensamt sommarlov. De blir erbjudna skjuts hem av en främmande man och försvinner sedan spårlöst. Polisutredningen som pågår under veckor och till slut månader leder ingenstans. Brottet går som ett eko genom det lilla sammansvetsade samhället och särskilt dess kvinnor lever med en ny sorts rädsla och en känsla av förlust.Försvinnande värld utspelar sig under ett år på Kamtjatkahalvön i nordöstra Ryssland och berättar många människors liv, människor vars öden på ett eller annat sätt hör ihop: ett vittne, en granne, en poliskommissarie, en mamma. Genom de olika personerna förs vi allt djupare in i en värld som på samma gång känns väldigt avlägsen och ändå liknar vår. En värld i förändring, en försvinnande värld. Trådarna i boken knyts tätare och tätare och strålkastarljuset sätts på ras, kultur, sexualitet och vägen från Sovjetunionen till det post-sovjetiska Ryssland.