"A bittersweet relic of a sunnier age . . . . A joyous caper . . . playful and ebullient shot
through with magical twists and supernatural turns." -- Observer Longlisted for the
International Booker Prize a Murakami-esque ode to the revered cultural capital of western
Ukraine filled with a charming cast of eccentrics who together make up the beating heart of
the city. Strange almost magical things are afoot in Lviv. Seagulls circle overhead while the
passing breeze carries a briny whiff even though the coast is far away. A ragtag group of
aging hippies gather around a mysterious grave in Lychakiv Cemetery. Among them are an ex-KGB
officer and the old subversive he once spied upon. Soon Captain Ryabtsev and Alik Olisevych
band together to uncover the source of the city's "anomalies." Meanwhile across Lviv Taras a
cab driver ferries kidney-stone patients over cobblestone streets in his ancient Opel Vectra.
He's wooing Darka a woman who works nights at a currency exchange. The young lovers don't know
it but their fate depends on the two lonely old men relics of a bygone era who will stop at
nothing to save their city. Blending Shakespearean comedy with Andrey Kurkov's unique brand of
black humor and vodka-fueled magic realism Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv is a postcard from a
more optimistic era. Populated by a delightful cast of oddballs Kurkov's novel is an
affectionate snapshot of a country finding itself and reclaiming its lost dreams twenty years
after Soviet rule. Translated from the Russian by Reuben Woolley
