TEHRAN – American author Julia Phillips’ “Disappearing Earth” has been published in Persian by Ketabsaray-e Tandis.

Fatemeh Rezai-Namju is the translator of the book, which was first published in 2019.

One August afternoon, on the shoreline of the north-eastern edge of Russia, two sisters are abducted. In the ensuing weeks, then months, the police investigation turns up nothing. Echoes of the disappearance reverberate across a tightly woven community, with the fear and loss felt most deeply among its women.

Set on the remote Siberian peninsula of Kamchatka, “Disappearing Earth” draws us into the world of an astonishing cast of characters, all connected by an unfathomable crime. 

We are transported to vistas of rugged beauty – densely wooded forests, open expanses of tundra, soaring volcanoes and the glassy seas that border Japan and Alaska – and into a region as complex as it is alluring, where social and ethnic tensions have long simmered, and where outsiders are often the first to be accused.

In a story as propulsive as it is emotionally engaging, and through a young writer’s virtuosic feat of empathy and imagination, this powerful novel provides a new understanding of the intricate bonds of family and community, in a Russia unlike any we have seen before.

Beautifully written, thought-provoking, intense and cleverly wrought, this is the most extraordinary first novel from a mesmerizing new talent.

“Disappearing Earth” was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Fiction.

Photo: This combination photo shows author Julia Phillips and the cover of the Persian edition of her novel “Disappearing Earth”.

MMS/YAW