The Buddha's Return

A noir mystery set in the Paris underworld, by the acclaimed modernist émigré master Gaito Gazdanov

A millionaire is killed; a golden statuette of a Buddha goes missing. Then a penniless student, who is afflicted by dream-like fits, is arrested and accused of murder.

Slipping between the menacing dream world of the student's fevered imagination and the dark back alleys of the Paris underworld, The Buddha's Return is part detective novel, part philosophical thriller and part love story.

In typically crisp, unfussy prose, Gazdanov's delicately balanced novel is an irresistibly hypnotic masterpiece from one of Russia's most talented émigré writers.

Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.

Translated by Bryan Karetnyk

Gaito Gazdanov (1903-1971) joined the White Army aged just sixteen and fought in the Russian Civil War. Exiled in Paris from the 1920s onwards, he earned a living driving taxis at night. He quickly gained prominence on the literary scene as a novelist, essayist, critic and short-story writer, and was greatly admired by Maxim Gorky, among others. The Flight and The Spectre of Alexander Wolf are also published by Pushkin Press.

Bryan Karetnyk is a British writer and translator. His translations for Pushkin Press include works by Ichiyo Higuchi, Irina Odoevtseva, Jun'ichiro Tanizaki and Ryunosuke Akutagawa. He is also the editor of the Penguin Classics anthology Russian Émigré Short Stories from Bunin to Yanovsky.

'The Gazdanov revival... is nothing short of a literary event... Gazdanov's thrillers offer a truly original vision, distinguished by profound existential and metaphysical concerns, a peculiar sense of humour, and enchanting prose, which Bryan Karetnyk has once again reproduced with impeccable grace' TLS

'An excellent novel by any standard, and especially remarkable for joining the philosophical underpinnings of the Russians with the intrigue of a French thriller' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, STARRED REVIEW

'He has his own utterly distinctive voice... Pushkin Press is to be congratulated on reviving an author who is as relevant now as ever' SPECTATOR