Glas New Russian Writing In this collection, centred on the theme of Childhood, we offer two early stories by Andrei Bitov which reflect the growing awareness in children of life"s mystery and beauty; a story by Andrei Platonov, bearing the stamp of his inimitable style; Ludmilla Ulitskaya"s perspicacious insight into the complex relationship between twin sisters; an impressionistic story by Zufar Gareev about the torments of adolescence; Leonid Latynin"s epic, set in pre-Christian Russia and giving us a glimpse of the dawn of Russian civilisation; Alan Cherchesov"s account of an unusually bright Chechen boy living alone in a highland village in the Caucasus; Anatoly Pristavkin tells about childhood in a special orphanage for children of "enemies of the people"; and the latest Booker winners Andrei Sergeev and Sergei Gandlevsky.