Endling

The debut novel by 'one of the leading post-Soviet writers of her generation' ( The Nation ), about the journey of three women and one extremely endangered snail through contemporary Ukraine.

Deeply original ... Reva writes as though powered by a jolt of adrenalin ... Endling conjures the deeply online sense of the darkly funny material that emerges from unprecedented times

Pulls off the trick of being a witty satire, a meta-fiction about how to write about your country and planet in crisis, and a deeply moving war story, all at the same time

A Ukrainian caper taking in endangered snail species and the marriage industry is disrupted, in both the writing and the reading, by Russia's full-scale invasion. Reva handles the formal demands of melding autofiction, road trip and blistering reportage with poignancy and flair

Endling shouldn't be funny, but it is - very . Set in Ukraine just as Putin invades, it features three young women, on two different missions, in one vehicle. Structurally wild and playful, Endling is also heart-rending and angry. It examines colonialism, old and neo, the role of women, identity, power and powerlessness, and the very nature of fiction-writing. Maria Reva also tells a riveting, unique story; the shock is that this is her first novel. It's a book about the world now, and about three unforgettable women, Yeva, Nastia and Solomiya, travelling together in a mobile lab. The endling, by the way, is a snail

Maria Reva has made a fantastic novel . It's about so much and yet is laser focused. A scientist who funds her research with sex work, a wild and, at the same time, sensible and normal move. T his novel turns corners and tables. I love works that are smarter than I am and this is one

In Maria Reva's all-around brilliant novel Endling , the fate of some snails serves as a harbinger for the fate of Ukraine. The book is funny and smart, full of science, longing and adventure , all the while reminding us what the world stands to lose, and what it has already lost. This is essential reading

Heartbreaking, hilarious, profound, and vital , Endling is a brilliant, visceral journey that pulses with a powerful sense of urgency and relevance to our times

A fierce and funny road-trip novel which is - literally - interrupted by Russia's invasion

Inventive and powerful . The reminders that these characters are fiction emphasises that the horror and the violence are real

A thrilling ride . . . Tender but never mawkish . . . Reva is breaking down the molecules of fiction to get at a 'broader, truer truth' through her combination of drama, self-examination and, notably, humour

A dexterous and formally inventive debut novel ... Reva shares with us personal details about her connection with Ukraine, as well as her awareness of the war and the artistic challenge she faces: can anyone in good conscience make fiction out of these tragic events? The answer to that question is resoundingly affirmative.

A stunning debut . . . [its] formal adventurousness demonstrates the depth that the novel can bring to issues we struggle to reckon with

I was gripped by Yeva's journey across her beautiful, war-ravaged country with her fragile yet hardy snails, a symbol of hope and endurance even when death seems inevitable. Brilliant

Suspenseful and powered by a rare urgency

Startling and ambitious

Brilliant and heart-stopping

Remarkable . . . Reva tests the boundaries of storytelling with freshness and humour

Animated by dark humor and cool fury

A virtuosic debut novel ... Starting out as a straightforward story about a Ukrainian biologist, this witty, shape-shifting book turns into something trickier and more interesting ... Indeed, for all her humor and brio - she's never, ever preachy - Reva knows what she's joking about

An impressive high-wire act-one that blends the horror of the war with all the bleak and unintended absurdity it has produced in its wake ... The intrusion of reality also elevates Reva's novel, transforming it into a moving exploration of the pain of creating art, particularly art based on the pain of others

Maria Reva's dazzling debut novel Endling will take you on a ride you will never forge t. Into this brilliant stew of a novel the fearless Reva stirs Ukraine's notorious "romance tour" industry, feminist activists, a kidnapping caper, the fine science of snail conservation, the eternal mysteries of family dynamics and Europe's first major land war since World War II. Only a supremely talented writer could handle material like this , and Reva--who seems incapable of writing a dud sentence--shows she's more than up to the task. Open this book, fasten your seatbelt, and brace for impact

Wild, exhilarating, heartbreaking ...Over and over again, Endling delivers flashes of beauty and grace and dares us to see hope amidst wreckage and ruin

Ironic, sharp, and wise , this is a big (meta)fictional achievement

This work on feminist outrage, environmental destruction, and the inhumanity of war is not didactic; instead, it is a page-turning, genre-bending meta-novel as entertaining as it is gut-wrenching , whose experiments with literary form will keep readers on their toes

Full of suspense and humor, while never letting go of what is really happening in the lives of Ukrainian people at home and abroad . . . A noteworthy literary achievement and also a good story, sure to be widely discussed and enjoyed.

Astonishing . . . this inspired and urgent novel is bound to make a major splash

Gripping . . . neither a work of magical realism nor auto-fiction or memoir, but an original piece encapsulating elements of all three'

Playful . . . never boring

[A] smart, funny novel . . . Reva is a complete original . . . a huge amount of fun

Ludic, heart-breaking and hilarious

A bold, brilliant, original, funny and devastating novel about Russia's war on Ukraine . . . Endling and Reva's earlier collection of short stories, Good Citizens Need Not Fear , are worthy inheritors of the tradition of Gogol: faux-naif, searing, uncompromising . . . Endling is a superb novel, and a superb novel about war

Heartfelt and scalding . . .Snails and subterfuge meet striking metafictional commentary in Maria Reva's tour de force , Endling

Maria Reva was born in Ukraine and grew up in Canada. Her debut story collection, Good Citizens Need Not Fear, won the Kobzar Book Award and was a finalist for the Writers' Trust of Canada's Fiction Prize. Endling, her debut novel, won the Gordon Burns Prize, the Aspen Words Literary Prize and the Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize; was longlisted for the Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Climate Fiction Prize and was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction. Her writing has been featured in the Atlantic, Granta, The Best American Short Stories, and elsewhere. She also works as an opera librettist.