Andreĭ Kurkov

"Igor is confident his old Soviet policeman's uniform will be the best costume at the party. But he hasn't gone far before he realises something is wrong. The streets are unusually empty, and the only person to emerge from the shadows runs from him in terror. After a perplexing conversation with the terrified man, Igor comes to an unbelievable conclusion: he has found his way back to 1957 Kiev, and it isn't the era his mother and her friends have so sentimentally described. As he travels between the centuries, his life becomes more and more complicated. With his mother's disapproval at his absences growing, and his adventures in each time frame starting to catch up with him, Igor has to survive the past if he wants any kind of future."--Publisher description.

Viktor is desperate: how can he earn a living as a writer when he has a drawer full of unfinished manuscripts? Then he is asked to write the obituaries of Kiev's VIPs, to be kept on file should they die. His pride at being published soons turns to horror as he is drawn into a terrible conspiracy.