A quite slow-moving tale of some old folk in Russia which may not be action-packed but it is certainly observation packed. Set about twenty years ago it is frequently damning of the country. Once glorious buildings are now damp, run-down and cold and anyone with any power (that includes the railway booking clerk) is mean and nasty. Bureaucracy is everywhere, queues, corruption and bribery abound. In this bleak work we meet an old lady, her stray three-legged dog Boroda, her best friend of some forty years, an ancient admirer, a sweet lively woman and the evil dog catcher! Both dog and admirer get caught and the ladies jump to the rescue. A gentle tale with bags of charm. ~ Sarah Broadhurst
How this novel came to be published is also a heartwarming tale. It was submitted to the publisher HarperCollins without an agent, during an 'open submission' period in April 2013. The author, Andrea Bennett, had previously submitted her manuscript to a dozen agents without luck before hearing of HarperCollins’s open submission period. It was then picked up from among those manuscripts submitted and eventually published in February 2015.
A joyful and hilarious tale of some very spirited septuagenarians as they overcome innumerable obstacles to save their beloved mutt from a heartless exterminator in a land where bureaucracy reigns above all else. Picaresque at its very best. Perhaps you're not a member of the Azov House of Culture Elderly Club? Perhaps you missed the talk on the Cabbage Root Fly last week? Galina Petrovna hasn't missed one since she joined the Club, when she officially became old. But she would much rather be at home with her three-legged dog Boroda. Boroda isn't 'hers' exactly, they belong to each other really, and that's why she doesn't wear a collar. And that's how Mitya The Exterminator got her. And that's why Vasily Semyonovich was arrested. And Galina had to call on Zoya who had to call on Grigory Mikhailovich. And go to Moscow. Filled to the brim with pickle, misadventure and tears, Galina Petrovna's Three-Legged Dog Story will leave you smiling at every page.
Andrea Bennett graduated from the University of Sheffield in History & Russian and then spent a good part of the Yeltsin years living and working in Russia. On her return to the UK she joined the Civil Service - first at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, then the Department for International Development. A stint in local government followed, and she now works in the charity sector. This is her first novel. She lives in Ramsgate, Kent, with her family and dog.