9781860469459

DEATH AND THE PENGUIN Andrey Kurkov was born in St Petersburg and now lives in Kiev. Having graduated from the Kiev Foreign Language Institute, he worked for some time as a journalist, did his military service as a prison warder at Odessa, then became a film cameraman, writer of screenplays and author of critically acclaimed and popular novels including Penguin Lost.

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:40

ALSO BY ANDREY KURKOV

Penguin Lost The Case of the General’s Thumb A Matter of Death and Life The President’s Last Love The Good Angel of Death

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:40

ANDREY KURKOV

Death and the Penguin TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN BY

George Bird

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:40

Published by Vintage 2003 12 14 16 18 20 19 17 15 13 11 Copyright © Andrey Kurkov 1996 Copyright © Diogenes Verlag AG Zürich 1999 All rights but the Russian and Ukrainian reserved English translation copyright © George Bird 2001 Andrey Kurkov has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser First published with the title Smert’postoronnego in 1996 by the Alterpress, Kiev First published in Great Britain in 2001 by The Harvill Press Vintage Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA www.vintage-books.co.uk Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at: www.randomhouse.co.uk/offices.htm The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 9781860469459 The Random House Group Limited supports The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the leading international forest certification organisation. All our titles that are printed on Greenpeace approved FSC certified paper carry the FSC logo.

Our paper procurement policy can be found at: www.rbooks.co.uk/environment

Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Bookmarque, Croydon, CR0 4TD

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:40

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:40

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:40

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:40

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:40

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:41

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:41

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:41

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:41

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:41

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:41

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:41

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:41

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:41

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:41

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:41

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:41

43296_Death_And_The_Penguin

27/04/2010 08:45:41