Snow White and Russian Red

The international bestselling novel of nihilistic youth in post-Communist Poland: "chaotic and brilliantly idiosyncratic…destined to become a cult classic" (Library Journal, starred review).

When his girlfriend Magda dumps him, Andrzej "Nails' Robakoski's life begins to unravel. A track-suited slacker, Nails spends most of his time doing little more than searching for his next girl, next line of speed, next proof for his conspiracy theories about the Polish economy. A xenophobic campaign against the Russian black market is escalating across Poland, culminating in No Russkies Day–or is that just in Nails's fevered mind?


A "punishing successor to first-person 'lad' novels like Trainspotting," Snow White and Russian Red "serves up its nastiness spiked with pitch-black humor." By turns poetic, hilarious, disturbing, and dirty, it is a powerful portrait of love, hopelessness, and political burnout in today's Eastern Europe (Publishers Weekly).

"Critics have compared it to novels like Naked Lunch…Celine and Kosinski also come to mind."—John Leonard, Harper's