Away from the Dead by David Bergen

Violence is the domain of both the rich and poor. Or so it seems in early 20th-century Ukraine during the tumult of the Russian Revolution.

As anarchists, Bolsheviks, and the White Army all come and go, each claiming freedom and justice, David Bergen embeds his readers into the lives of characters connected through love, family, and loyalty. Lehn, a bookseller south of Kiev, deserts the army and writes poetry to his love back home; Sablin, an adopted Mennonite-Ukrainian stableboy, runs with the anarchists only to discover that love and the planting of crops is preferable to killing; Inna, a beautiful young peasant, tries to stop a Mennonite landowner from stealing her child. In a world of violence, Sablin, Lehn, and Inna learn to love and hate and love again, hoping, against all odds, that one can turn away from the dead.

In this beautifully crafted novel, David Bergen takes us to a place where chaos reigns, where answers come from everywhere and nowhere, and where both the beauty and horror of humanity are on full display. (FromGoose Lane Editions)

Away from the Dead is onthe 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist.

• The CBC Books fall reading list: 40 Canadian books to read this season
• David Bergen reflects on his writing career
• How winning the CBC Short Story Prize in 1999 influenced David Bergen's writing career
• David Bergen on Mennonite food and literary tattoos
• 6 lessons David Bergen has learned from spending 25 years as a writer

Interviews with David Bergen

The Next Chapter4:16David Bergen takes The Next Chapter's version of the Proust Questionnaire

Winnipeg author David Bergen is on the shortlist for the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize for his short story collection Here the Dark. This segment originally aired in 2014.

Other books by David Bergen