In Lucky Breaks, we encounter anonymous women from the margins ofUkrainian society, their lives upended by the ongoing conflict with Russia. Awoman, bewildered by her broken umbrella, tries to abandon it like a sick relative;a beautiful florist suddenly disappears, her shop converted into awarehouse for propaganda; hiding out from the shelling, neighbours readhoroscopes in the local paper that tell them when it’s safe for them to go outside.

In stories of linguistic verve and absurdist wit, Yevgenia Belorusets writes oftrauma amidst the mundane, telling surreal, unsettling tales of survival in ashattered country.

‘A daring, unsettling book about displaced women telling luminous storiesto survive the darkness that surrounds them’ - Jenny Offill, author ofWeather