The Railway

Description

A vibrant, multi-cultural and surreal satire set in Uzbekistan in the mid-twentieth century. Set mainly in Uzbekistan between 1900 and 1980, The Railway introduces to us the inhabitants of the small town of Gilas on the ancient Silk Route. Among those whose stories we hear are Mefody-Jurisprudence, the town's alcoholic intellectual; Father Ioann, a Russian priest; Kara-Musayev the Younger, the chief of police; and Umarali-Moneybags, the old moneylender. Their colourful lives offer a unique and comic picture of a little-known land populated by outgoing Mullahs, incoming Bolsheviks, and a plethora of Uzbeks, Russians, Persians, Jews, Koreans, Tatars and Gypsies. At the heart of both the town and the novel stands the railway station - a source of income and influence, and a connection to the greater world beyond the town. Rich and picaresque, The Railway chronicles the dramatic changes felt throughout Central Asia in the early twentieth century.

Hamid Ismailov, regarded as a man of 'unacceptably democratic tendencies' in Uzbekistan, was forced to flee his homeland, and so came to London in 1992. He was recruited by the BBC World Service to set up its Central Asia Service. He has published many books both in Russia and in Uzbekistan. The Railway and A Poet and Bin-Laden are the only two to have been translated into English.

A wonderfully engaging novel -- Melissa McClements * Financial Times * Imagine Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude on the empty plains of central Asia...The Railway is a bold and inventive, if damning, whirl through Central Asia's 20th-century history -- Charlotte Hobson * Daily Telegraph * It is a work of rare beauty - an utterly readable, compelling book -- Craig Murray * New Statesman * A poet's novel, full of memorable descriptive passages and heart-wrenching asides * Independent * All picaresque exuberance, a jumble of influences from Persian to Soviet and beyond -- Catherine Lockerbie * Sunday Herald *