Endling A Novel
Endling A Novel by Maria Reva, published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group in 2025, is a darkly comic exploration set against the backdrop of Ukraine during the tumultuous events of 2022. The narrative follows Yeva, an eccentric scientist dedicated to breeding rare snails, as she navigates her unconventional life while her family pressures her to conform to societal norms. Alongside her sisters, Nastia and Solomiya, who are entangled in the marriage industry, they embark on a wild journey to locate their missing activist mother amidst the chaos of an invasion.
Readers will find a blend of humor and absurdity as the characters confront the harsh realities of war and survival. The story intertwines themes of family life and the complexities of love, all while highlighting the challenges faced by those living under military occupation. With a page count of 352, this edition presents a multifaceted narrative that delves into the intersection of fiction and reality, prompting reflections on the stories we tell ourselves in times of crisis.
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LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE * ONE OF THE NEW YORKER‘S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR SO FAR
Set in Ukraine, an eccentric scientist breeding rare snails crosses paths with sisters posing as members of the marriage industry to find their activist mother. As Russia invades, they embark on a wild journey with kidnapped bachelors and a last-of-its-kind snail. This darkly comic novel explores survival, love, and hope in times of encroaching darkness.
“Startling and ambitious”-New York Times * “Virtuosic.”- NPR, Fresh Air * “Brilliant and heart-stopping.”- Los Angeles Times
“Animated by dark humor and cool fury.”- The New Yorker * “Remarkable.“- The Washington Post
“This novel turns corners and tables. I love works that are smarter than I am, and this is one.”- Percival Everett, author of Pulitzer Prize winner James
Ukraine, 2022. Yeva is a loner and a maverick scientist who lives out of her mobile lab.She scours the country’s forests and valleys, trying and failing to breed rare snails, while her relatives urge her to settle down and finally start a family of her own. What they don’t know: Yeva already dates plenty of men–not for love, but to fund her work–entertaining Westerners who come to Ukraine on guided romance tours believing they’ll find docile brides untainted by feminism and modernity.
Nastia and her sister, Solomiya, are also entangled in the booming marriage industry, posing as a hopeful bride and her translator while secretly searching for their missing mother, who vanished after years of fierce activism against the romance tours.
Together they embark across hundreds of miles: three angry women, a truckful of kidnapped bachelors, and Lefty, a last-of-his-kind snail with one final shot at perpetuating his species. But their plans come to a screeching halt when Russia invades. In a stunningly ambitious and achingly raw metafictional spiral, Endling brilliantly balances horror and comedy, drawing on Reva’s own experiences as a Ukrainian expat tracking her family’s delicate dance of survival behind enemy lines. As fiction and reality collide on the page, Reva probes the hard truths of war: What stories must we tell ourselves to survive? To carry on with the routines of life under military occupation? And for those of us watching from over-seas: Can our sense of normalcy and security ever be restored, or have they always been a fragile illusion?
Endling is a tour de force from an author who weaves a story of love, loss, humor, and devastation that only she can tell.
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