Events in the lives of two characters-a Russian interpreter who works with Peter, and a singer from the early twentieth century-serve as jumping-off points for page after page of the author’s lyric, stream-of-consciousness prose. It is an ambitious novel that defies easy summary. Mikhail Shishkin’s third novel, Maidenhair, attempts to answer this and a host of other questions on the nature of life and death, love, war, and God.
What if the “reason for asylum,” the story you tell the ever-skeptical Peter, is all that remains? How can you convince anyone of the truth when the only evidence you have is your word? Any other corroborating materials-documents, the testimony of loved ones-you’ve had to leave behind. For the petitioners, it’s a harrowing experience. His formal, matter-of-fact interview style (Name? Age? Reason for requesting asylum?) obscures Peter’s true aim: he’s really just trying to uncover lies. “Have you understood your rights and responsibilities and that no one gets into paradise anyway?” Peter, a government official, is the man who decides the fate of the men and women seeking refugee status in Switzerland.
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