A modern pilgrim's progress set in Soviet Russia

Moscow Chestnova is an Everywoman fascinated by the brave new world supposedly taking shape around her. Moscow (the city) in the 1930s: a fairy-tale capital where, in Stalin's words, "life has become better, life has become merrier". But in this ideal city there is no longer a place for those who do not fit the bright, shining image of the men and women of the future. In a variety of styles ranging from the grotesque to the sentimental to the absurd, Platonov exposes the gulf between this premature triumphalism and the harsh reality of low living standards and even lower expectations, borrowing slogans from Stalin's speeches for comic effect. In an age of spin-doctors and soundbites this anarchic satire has as much resonance as ever.