Ukraine's most famous novelist dramatises the conflict raging in his country through the adventures of a mild-mannered beekeeper. Sergey is at once a war-weary adventurer and a fairy-tale innocent . . . His naive gaze allows Kurkov to get to the heart of a country bewildered by crisis and war, but where kindness can still be found . . . Translated by Boris Dralyuk with sensitivity and ingenuity.