THE title describes the form of this novel: the history of an island state, recorded contemporaneously by a succession of monks. The chronicle is interspersed with commentary by its sometime rulers, Prince Parfeny and Princess Ksenia, and this post-modern conceit is blended with a dose of magical realism (think Umberto Eco meets Mikhail Bulgakov) by means of which the royal couple age much slower than normal. This enables them to offer eyewitness insight throughout the history of the island. “The explanation is that each person has his or her own time,” one of the chroniclers tells us.

But there are dastardly deeds in hand; for this quotation comes from a section of the history which lionises a regent who seems too good to be true. The chapter is followed by the monk’s alternative account, discovered only after his death, which turns the “official” history on its head.

A novel that explores the writing and reading of history may seem like a dusty prospect, and, in some ways, it is a book of the head more than the heart. Apart from Ksenia and Parfeny, few characters stick around long enough to gain much depth, though an increasingly eccentric procession of dictators — including one who starts dressing as a bee and lapses into buzzing at state events, and his magician successor — are enjoyable company, if not ideal politicians. Further comedy comes in the straight-faced style characteristic of Russian literature: speaking of the chronicler who published propaganda on behalf of a tyrant, Parfeny says: “I send him my sincere greetings, to that part of the other world where he is now (various options are available here).”

Vodolazkin was born in Kyiv, and lives in St Petersburg. Despite the Slavic names and culture of the island, it is explicitly not Russia: the real country is mentioned in passing, and forms part of the semi-fictionalised world on to which the titular island is superimposed. In 2024, it is difficult to read a Ukrainian-born Russian novelist without reference to the current conflict, though it is worth remembering that the novel was written before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.

One early passage leapt out to me as a riposte to the religious nationalism of Putin’s Ruski Mir ideology: “The bishop objected that no unity is worth human life. If unity pleases God, He will return it even without you, but if it does not please Him, then why should it be returned?” But direct comparisons break down, and leave you unsure whether it is the author’s whisper that you heard or your own preconceptions. To read history, one often has to read between the lines, with a degree of ironic detachment — and sometimes it helps when reading novels, too.​

A History of the Island
Eugene Vodolazkin, author
Lisa C. Hayden, translator
Plough Publishing £19.99
(978-1-63608-068-0)
Church Times Bookshop £17.99