Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

Book at Bedtime

Audiobooks

Podcasts

Drama

Readings from modern classics, new works by leading writers and world literature

Readings from modern classics, new works by leading writers and literature from around the world

BBC Radio 4 FM

Book at Bedtime: The Dream Life of Sukhanov

Book at Bedtime: The Dream Life of Sukhanov: Episode 6

The Dream Life of Sukhanov

Episode 6

BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime, The Dream Life of Sukhanov, Episode 6

Sukhanov discovers apparent betrayal everywhere - at work, from his lodger and his wife.

Sukhanov discovers apparent betrayal all around him, at his work, from his lodger and his wife, and his grasp on reality seems to be slipping.

Sukhanov discovers that a controversial article offered for publication in the magazine he edits - by a certain D. M. Fyodorov - is in fact written by his erstwhile lodger and cousin. The issue of whether to publish it in his Art newspaper becomes for Sukhanov a question of deciding whether to stick to his guns about the policy and doctrines of the paper as he has always upheld them, or to anticipate and embrace the introduction of new policies and new, and to him subversive, ways of thinking about Art.

Set in the dawning days of Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika, The Dream Life of Sukhanov is the story of one man's battle with his true nature amidst the Soviet state's struggle with its own identity. Olga Grushin opens a window on to the soul of an artist who cannot escape his own vision amidst a transient and unsettling world.

Olga Grushin was born in Moscow in 1971 and spent her childhood in Moscow and Prague. In 1989 she became the first Soviet citizen to enrol for a full-time degree in the United States while retaining Soviet citizenship. In 2006 she was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for New Writers and named one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists in 2007. She has published two novels: The Dream Life of Sukhanov (2006) and The Concert Ticket (published in the US as The Line) in April 2010. Olga lives in Washington D.C.

"A stunning fictional debut": The Independent
"Haunting": The Observer
"Heartbreaking": Vogue
"Wonderful": Daily Telegraph
"It breathes new life into American literary fiction": The Washington Post

Abridged by Jeremy Osborne
Reader: Robert Glenister


Directed by Marilyn Imrie
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

By Olga Grushin. Story of betrayal, set during the waning days of the Soviet Union

By Olga Grushin. Story of betrayal and its repurcussions, set during the waning days of the Soviet Union

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Book at Bedtime

The Dream Life of Sukhanov

Episode 6

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4