Relationships
2021
Ask Miechka
by Eugenia Kuznetsova
The story of “Ask Miechka” features four generations of women captured during one summer. Two sisters, Mia and Lilia, come to their “shelter”, their grandmother's old house where they have spent their childhood, in an attempt to put on hold their upcoming life-changing decisions: deciding on immigrating or staying, choosing between a reliable man or wild love. Their grandmother, Thea, is nearing the end of her life and her daughter and the sisters’ mother are fearful to take the place of the oldest woman in the family. The old house, overgrown with weeds, shrubs, and sprawling trees, seems to be frozen in time, lost in oblivion. Yet the sisters bring it back to life: new people come, new cats wander in, pumpkins are grown, and the porch is renovated. The house changes, along with the lives of the women who inhabit it as the summer nears its end. In her debut novel, Eugenia Kuznetsova told a deeply intimate story about the relations between sisters, mothers, and daughters. Vivid dialogues, when the most sensitive things remain unspoken, but somehow felt, define the atmosphere of the story, and highlight the unique ties existing between the generations of women in the family.
