The Doomed City

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Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, renowned masters of Russian science fiction, are best known for their celebrated work, Roadside Picnic. However, their most cherished and labor-intensive novel, which has been acclaimed as their magnum opus, has remained unpublished in English until now. The Doomed City, completed in 1972, was so politically sensitive that the authors kept it a secret for sixteen years, revealing it only during the late 1980s amid perestroika. It has since been translated into several major European languages and is now available in English through acclaimed translator Andrew Bromfield. Set in an experimental city where the sun is turned on and off daily, the story unfolds within an environment bordered by an abyss and a towering wall. The city's inhabitants, drawn from various points in twentieth-century history, are left to govern themselves under the watchful eyes of enigmatic Mentors. Among them is Andrei Voronin, a young astronomer from 1950s Leningrad, who begins his journey as a garbage collector but is a staunch believer in the Experiment. As nightmarish events unfold, Voronin's rise through the political ranks leads to devastating consequences. Boris Strugatsky described writing this novel as “genuinely delightful and fascinating,” a sentiment that readers are likely to echo when engaging with the text.