The Cicada Sheds Its Golden Shell

The Cicada Sheds Its Golden Shell follows siblings Konstantin and Lada, who have lost contact. Konstantin is trapped in an underground research laboratory preserving Lenin's corpse, while Lada battles a renovation in Berlin that makes her home uninhabitable. She struggles to understand why her brother remained in Moscow after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Konstantin finds himself in deep trouble, partly due to his oligarch godfather, who has transhumanist ambitions and endangers Lada as well. The novel tells a powerful family story across Moscow, Berlin, and Kyiv, exploring a world out of joint. Valeria Gordeev's debut novel was awarded the literature prize of the Jürgen Ponto Foundation and is on the longlist for the German Book Prize.