Description

“Red Cross“ is a story about memory and oblivion. A young soccer referee, Sasha, comes to Minsk to try to rebuild a life broken in half by the will of an indifferent fate. And meets here a woman, ninety-year-old Tatiana Alekseevna, who survived the Stalinist terror with the hope of asking God some questions sooner or later.

Saša Filipienka (born 1984) is a Belarusian with a tremendous journalistic background. He is published in the world-class press and actively defends common sense and humanity.

He is the author of six novels, as well as short stories and plays. Winner of a number of prestigious awards, among which the most prominent is the French Literary Award Transfuge for his novel “Crematorium“ as the best European novel of 2023.

Saša Filipienka’s novels have been translated into French, German, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Italian, English, Croatian, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, Swedish, Slovak, Thai, and Korean. They are written in Russian, but were recreated in Belarusian in2024.

Belarusian author Saša Filipienka lays bare the recent history of the ruthless Russianstate with the story of an unlikely friendship between a young widower and a woman who survived Stalin ‘s gulags…. He brings freshness and wit to a familiar story of Soviet tragedy.

Publishers Weekly

It was most interesting to hear the voice of a young writer from a generation that hardly knew the Soviets, and to see how he wrestles with the subject… Journalism can give you a lot of knowledge about an issue, outlines the social background, gives you numbers and voices opinions, but nothing reveals the human soul as deeply as a novel.

Los Angeles Review of Books

What a moving and heartwarming account of a woman who desperately wants to convey what she experienced while she still remembers. Here’s how she explains why she’s losing her memories, “Because God is afraid of me. I have too many uncomfortable questions…” So begins the gripping, harrowing and heart-wrenching story of the Soviet Union during World War II.

BonnieD

“Red Cross” is a serious book, not too depressing. Without a doubt, the story gripped me and touched me deeply. At the same time, I was also struck and inspired by the strength, energy and courage with which the two main characters go about their lives.

LaViv

Саша Филипенко, Sasha Filipenko, Sasza Filipenko, Саша Филиппенко, Фiлiпенка.