To the Lake

A 2021xc2xa0FTxc2xa0andxc2xa0Heraldxc2xa0Book of the Year A deadly flu epidemic sweeps through Moscow, killing hundreds of thousands. Anya and her husband Sergey decide they have no choice but to flee to a lake in the far north of Russia. Joining them on their journey are her son and father-in-law; Sergey's ex-wife and son; and their garish neighbours. But then some friends of Sergey show up to complete Anya's list of people shexe2x80x99d least like to be left with at the end of the civilised world. As the wave of infection expands from the capital, their food and fuel start to run low. Menaced both by the harsh Russian winter and by the desperate people they encounter, they must put their hatreds behind them if theyxe2x80x99re to have a chance of reaching safetyxe2x80xa6 Inspired by a real-life flu epidemic in Moscow, To the Lake was a number one bestseller in Russia, and has now appeared in a dozen languages and been adapted into a Netflix TV series.

Yana Vagner lives in Moscow with her husband, teenage son and three dogs. She started writing To the Lake as a weekly blog, at a time when a flu epidemic swept through Moscow, and the story had already attracted thousands of readers before it was turned into a best-selling novel in Russia.