Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal, translated by Jessica Moore (Les Fugitives, £10.99)
In this timely novella about a Russian military conscript defecting from the army, 20-year-old Aliocha is on the Trans-Siberian railway from Moscow to Vladivostok, spanning almost a quarter of the Earth’s circumference. When he gets there he plans to “hide, remake himself and earn enough to get back to the west”. But no literary train journey would be complete without encountering a stranger – in this case Hélène, a Frenchwoman who has her own secrets. Through a combination of clothes swapping, psychological gameplay and simply hiding in a toilet, the two play cat and mouse with the senior Russian officer moving inexorably along the train. The result is a balance of internal thought and external action propelled by a narrative that races on in long sentences, keeping things flowing beautifully in between moments of drama.
