This intriguing novel blurs the boundaries between the real and the supernatural, weaving a tale about familial relationships, forgiveness, and the mysteries of life and death.

 

SYNOPSIS

Mother Doll by Katya Apekina

Zhenia is adrift in Los Angeles, pregnant with a baby her husband doesn't want, while her Russian grandmother and favorite person in the world is dying on the opposite coast. She's deeply disconnected from herself and her desires when she gets a strange call from Paul, a psychic medium who usually specializes in channeling dead pets, with a message from the other side. Zhenia's great-grandmother Irina, a Russian Revolutionary, has approached him from a cloud of ancestral grief, desperate to tell her story and receive absolution from Zhenia.

As Irina begins her confession with the help of a purgatorial chorus of grieving Russian ghosts, Zhenia awakens to aspects of herself she hadn't been willing to confront. But does either woman have what the other needs to understand their predicament? Or will Irina be stuck in limbo, with Zhenia plagued by ancestral trauma, and her children after her?

Ferociously funny and deeply moving, Mother Doll forces us to look at how painful secrets stamp themselves from one generation to the next. Katya Apekina's second novel is a family epic and a meditation on motherhood, immigration, identity, and war.

 

WHY WE LOVE IT

"Have you ever wondered what lies beyond death or wished you could speak with someone who has passed on? What if one day, your long-dead great-grandmother called just to chat? In this book, readers are invited to explore the boundary between the real and the supernatural, blending life’s hardships with an otherworldly twist. It touches on the struggles of familial relationships, particularly between mothers and daughters, and asks the question: ‘How do you ask for forgiveness?’ More importantly, it challenges us to reflect on whether we can offer forgiveness when it’s needed most.”

Hilary Truman
Member of the Great Jewish Bookshelf 2025 Selection Committee
 

Read a Conversation with the Author