New Novel Captures the Horror of Soviet Era Nuclear Weapons Testing on the Kazakh Steppe

August 21, 2014

Uzbek author Hamid Ismailov has written a haunting novel capturing the horror that nuclear weapons testing inflicted on the people and culture of the Kazakh steppes.

English translations from the former Soviet republics are as scant as the countries of central Asia are rich in history and language, and staggeringly vast across the map; Kazakhstan alone is the size of Europe. The release of Hamid Ismailov’s hauntingly beautiful novella is doubly exciting. Firstly, this frightening fairytale is set in a place unknown to most – the Kazakh steppes near the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site (SNTS), the largest in the former Soviet territories …

Click here to read the full review / summary of this rare and unique novel.