When the Doves Disappeared

SHORTLISTED FOR THE OXFORD-WEIDENFELD TRANSLATION PRIZE

1941: In Communist-ruled, war-ravaged Estonia, two men are fleeing from the Red Army - Roland, a fiercely principled freedom fighter, and his slippery cousin Edgar. When the Germans arrive, Roland goes into hiding; Edgar abandons his unhappy wife, Juudit, and takes on a new identity as a loyal supporter of the Nazi regime...

1963: Estonia is again under Communist control, independence even further out of reach behind the Iron Curtain. Edgar is now a Soviet apparatchik, desperate to hide the secrets of his past life and stay close to those in power. But his fate remains entangled with Roland's, and with Juudit, who may hold the key to uncovering the truth...

In a masterfully told story that moves between the tumult of these two brutally repressive eras - a story of surveillance, deception, passion, and betrayal - Sofi Oksanen brings to life both the frailty, and the resilience, of humanity under the shadow of tyranny.



Sofi Oksanen is a Finnish-Estonian novelist and playwright.

Purge was her first novel to appear in English. She has received numerous prizes for her work, including the Swedish Academy Nordic Prize, the Prix Femina, the Budapest Grand Prize, the European Book Prize, and the Nordic Council Literature Prize. She lives in Helsinki.



At once a historical novel, a crime story, a psychological novel, a romance, a war novel... An explosive book with a dark heart



Oksanen belongs in the premier league of literature... Such a powerful and moving story



Constantly alive and pulsating without for a second losing the perfect pitch



The intrigue holds the reader like a spy novel in the style of le Carré



One of the best translated fiction books of 2015.