Every page sparks with energy in this ambitious and original debut. Kazbek writes with a kind of urgency that makes her novel a true standout. An arresting coming of age, an exploration of gender, a modern folktale, a comedy about family, Katya Kazbek breaks out as a new voice to watch.Ī queer coming-of-age narrative in every sense of the word, Kazbek’s novel is twisty, tragic, and deeply charming-an endearing exploration of the stories we tell and the people we find in order to live.Ī coming of age story that is at times chilling and in equal moments heartfelt, and at the center of it, Mitya is simply trying to find his own way. Told with deep empathy, humor, and a bit of surreality, Little Foxes Took Up Matches is a revelation about the life of one community in a country of turmoil and upheaval, glimpsed through the eyes of a precocious and empathetic child, whose heart and mind understand that there are often more than two choices. His experiences are interlaced with a retelling of a foundational Russian fairytale, Koschei the Deathless, offering an element of fantasy to the brutal realities of Mitya’s everyday life. Mitya finds himself facing a different sort of ambiguity: is he a boy, as everyone keeps telling him, or is he not quite a boy, as he often feels?Īfter suffering horrific abuse from his cousin Vovka who has returned broken from war, Mitya embarks on a journey across underground Moscow to find something better, a place to belong.

As he grows, his life mirrors the uncertain future of his country, which is attempting to rebuild itself after the collapse of the Soviet Union, torn between its past and the promise of modern freedom.

For Mitya, it is a small, metal treasure that guides him from within. For his family, it marks the beginning of the end, the promise of certain death.

When Mitya was two years old, he swallowed his grandmother’s sewing needle. proving we can become the gods and goddesses this world truly needs.” -Paul BeattyĪn arresting coming of age, an exploration of gender, a modern folktale, a powerful portrait of a family-Katya Kazbek breaks out as a new voice to watch. A VOGUE, Debutiful, and Secular Times Best Book of 2022Ī NYLON, Chicago Review of Books, and Kirkus Best Book of the Month

Little foxes took up matches