Every so often a new writer appears who is wiser than her years would suggest, whose flesh-and-blood characters embody more experience than a young writer could possible know. Sana Krasikov is one of those writers. Her first published story appeared in the New Yorker, her second in The Atlantic Monthly’s fiction issue. One More Year is her debut collection, made up of stories of people who hold out hope, despite the odds, that life will be kind to them.

The characters who populate Krasikov’s stories are mostly women–some are new to America; some still live in the former Soviet Union, in Georgia or Russia; and some have returned to Russia to find a country they barely recognize and people they no longer understand. Mothers leave children behind; children abandon their parents. Almost all of them look to love to repair their lives, and when love isn’t really there, they attempt to make do with relationships that substitute for love.

Like Jhumpa Lahiri and ZZ Packer, two writers whose fully-realized characters drive their fiction, Sana Krasikov is an exhilarating talent whose first collection puts her on the map with today's most talented young authors.

"In her stunning short story debut, Krasikov hones in on the subtleties of hope and despair that writhe in the hearts of her protagonists, largely Russian and Georgian immigrants who have settled on the East Coast. In 'Better Half,' 22-year-old Anya gets a protection order against her husband, Ryan, after he attacks her; he pleads for forgiveness, but, Anya realizes, 'a future with Ryan would be like staying in Russia.' In 'The Repatriates' a man returns to Moscow — to his wife's disappointment — intent on applying to the Russian stock market some tricks he picked up on Wall Street. In 'Maia in Yonkers,' a Georgian immigrant is visited by her son, and the tensions are fierce and palpable. In 'The Alternate,' Victor meets the Americanized daughter of an old love from Russia. Though many of Krasikov's stories are bleak, there are swells of promise; even Lera, whose husband leaves her for another woman, 'suddenly felt nothing but the most pure-hearted compassion for him, a kindness and forgiveness that almost broke her heart.' Krasikov's prose is precise, and her stories are intelligent, complex and passionate." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Sana Krasikov treats every story as a novel, and the readers of these stories will, in the end, live with the characters beyond the space of a short story. These stories are the debut of a major literary voice shaped by the literary traditions of both America and Russia."

—Yiyun Li, author of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers

“Her book is more cogent, as a collection with a point, than most. . . Ms. Krasikov’s short stories are some of the finest debut work to appear in recent years. Bitterness and martyrdom are the spice of these stories, and one of her characters, bewildered by the petty tit-for-tat around her, wonders: ‘Must every simple decency now be counted?’ But that kind of counting is precisely what makes a writer of manners superb.”

The New York Sun

"Sana Krasikov is a brilliant new writer. The stories of One More Year are populated by imperfect characters who always surprise, and who are gloriously brought to life with humor, sympathy, and unexpected tenderness.”

–Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns

“Sana Krasikov's memorable characters emerge, fully formed and breathing on their own, from a deep, clear pool of seemingly effortless language, a knowing and incisive but empathetic sensibility. These stories are original, resplendent, and brilliant.”

–Kate Christensen, author of The Great Man

“Sana Krasikov is the real thing. Her stories take shape inside the specific world of émigrés wrestling with language and loss and the stubborn details of survival, but they open into the largest of worlds and speak a universal language of heartbreak and desire.”

--Jonathan Rosen, author of The Life of the Skies

“In her stunning short story debut, Krasikov hones in on the subtleties of hope and despair that writhe in the hearts of her protagonists, largely Russian and Georgian immigrants who have settled on the East Coast. . . Krasikov's prose is precise, and her stories are intelligent, complex and passionate.”

–Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

"Sana Krasikov treats every story as a novel, and the readers of these stories will, in the end, live with the characters beyond the space of a short story. These stories are the debut of a major literary voice shaped by the literary traditions both American and Russian."

—Yiyun Li, author of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers

“An amazingly mature work for a young author. The eight stories herein are all shrewdly humane and formally exquisite. Initial readers of Drown and Interpreter of Maladies must have felt the shock of discovery after encountering those stellar debut collections. Well, now there’s a new kid on the block: Krasikov is as good as Junot Diaz and Jhumpa Lahiri were at this stage in their careers. . . One awaits Krasikov’s future work. If these stories are any indication, her name will become justifiably familiar.”

Miami Herald

“Krasikov’s soft, steady voice describing terrible violence creates a quiet explosion, to stunning effect. Equally remarkable is her ability to set forth complications–prior marriages, children, pervasive devaluation of women, longing for love–in a way that enters us at once, and utterly convinces. . . Graceful and keen, these stories seep into memory not only for their unflinching gaze but also for their sane compassion. It is one thing (often a writer’s self-flattery) to present characters in complex distress as if they were specimens. It’s something else to stand alongside them, not with sentiment but with humility, with a kind of emotional and spiritual solidarity. Krasikov achieves this, and we’re larger for it.”

–San Francisco Chronicle

“While many of the stories are told from the point of view of women, hailing from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, the characters differ greatly both in terms of economic opportunity and religious affinity–even as they all share a certain longing for love and connection. . . Filled with clear-eyed observations, this elegant debut frequently alights on romantic disappointment while leaving just enough room for hope.”

Kirkus Reviews

“Many of Krasikov’s characters in her captivating debut are immigrants of the former Soviet Union, searching for, and often finding, resilience in life and love. . . Krasikov’s careful prose augments the quiet complexity of her characters as they confront love and loss within an unfamiliar landscape. Despite their melancholic situations, the protagonists in these eight tales still manage to find moments of reckoning and grace.”

Booklist

“Sana Krasikov is a brilliant new writer. The stories of One More Year are populated by imperfect characters who always surprise, and who are gloriously brought to life with humor, sympathy, and unexpected tenderness.”

Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns

“Sana Krasikov is the real thing. Her stories take shape inside the specific world of émigrés wrestling with language and loss and the stubborn details of survival, but they open into the largest of worlds and speak a universal language of heartbreak and desire.”

Jonathan Rosen, author of The Life of the Skies

Sana Krasikov was born in the Ukraine and grew up in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia and in the United States. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she is a recipient of an O. Henry Award and a Fulbright scholarship. Her stories have appeared in The New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, the Virginia Quarterly, Epoch, and Zoetrope. She lives in New York City and is at work on her first novel.