A mesmerizing debut novel that reimagines Tolstoy's classic tragedy, Anna Karenina, for our time
Vivacious thirty-seven-year-old Anna K. is comfortably married to Alex, an older, prominent businessman from her tight-knit Russian-Jewish immigrant community in Queens. But a longing for freedom is reignited in this bookish, overly romantic, and imperious woman when she meets her cousin Katia Zavurov's boyfriend, an outsider and aspiring young writer on whom she pins her hopes for escape. As they begin a reckless affair, Anna enters into a tailspin that alienates her from her husband, family, and entire world.
In nearby Rego Park's Bukharian-Jewish community, twenty-seven-year-old pharmacist Lev Gavrilov harbors two secret passions: French movies and the lovely Katia. Lev's restless longing to test the boundaries of his sheltered life powerfully collides with Anna's. But will Lev's quest result in life's affirmation rather than its destruction?
Exploring struggles of identity, fidelity, and community, What Happened to Anna K. is a remarkable retelling of the Anna Karenina story brought vividly to life by an exciting young writer.
"Irina Reyn has done the impossible: she has reimagined one of mankind's very best novels, and made it beautifully her own. That she has not diminished Tolstoy but updated him -- freshened him for the strange, sensuous time in which we live -- is as wondrous a feat as I can recall in contemporary fiction." -- Darin Strauss, author of Chang and Eng and The Real McCoy
"This witty, psychologically astute, and immensely pleasurable novel is something of a miracle. By dint of some divine stubbornness, the author has folded the Tolstoyan paradigm of grandeur and regret into our pettier, shallower age, and illuminated both in the process. I know of no recent first novel that has better captured the way we live now, with as assured a sense of comedy and compassion." -- Phillip Lopate, author of Waterfront and Portrait of My Body
"This intricately woven and, frankly, bedazzling novel is more than a retelling of Anna Karenina. It's a laser-sharp portrait of the contemporary Russian-American dream, New York style. Irina Reyn's voice is sophisticated and street smart, and once I became acquainted with her characters I could not put this novel down." -- Frederick Reiken, author of The Odd Sea and The Lost Legends of New Jersey
"What every émigré community deserves is a few fearless, insightful, and penetrating young voices both to announce an arrival and sing an elegy. Irina Reyn is one of those voices, and her first novel is as charming as it is sad, as funny as it is revelatory." -- Tom Bissell, author of God Lives in St. Petersburg and The Father of All Things
