Skunk, shortlisted for the Booker Russian Novel Prize in 1994, now appears in English for the first time. The life of its hero mirrors the chaos that now infuses Russian life as its people struggle to navigate the transition from communism to democracy. Skunk, so nicknamed because he grows up small and stunted, runs wild through the streets of the northern Russian town of Stargorod. He flees to the woods but returns to the town for human companionship—and finds nothing but corruption and dishonesty. Restless, out of place, and nearly hopeless, Skunk wanders on. Aleshkovsky’s vivid style and fresh vision have the ring of the country that Leskov and Dostoevsky explored so unforgettably.