The Good Life Elsewhere

A group of adventurous villagers attempt to escape Moldova for Italy in this "outstanding . . . darkly hilarious" novel of poverty and hope in Eastern Europe ( The Wall Street Journal).   The Moldovian village of Larga is depressed in more ways than one and its remaining citizens long for a better life. Meanwhile, just over the border in Italy, the economy is booming. But when a group of Largans decide to take fate into their own hands and attempt to cross the border, their efforts result in a tragicomic romp of post-Soviet shenanigans.   In this "simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking tale," an Orthodox priest is deserted by his wife for an art-dealing atheist; a mechanic redesigns his tractor for travel by air and sea; thousands of villagers take to the road on a modern-day religious crusade to make it to the promised land of Italy; meanwhile, politicians remain politicians ( Publishers Weekly).   "A touching and hilarious chronicle about the age-old European yearning for one more chance. A chance that may never come." —Gary Shteyngart