“Come here,” she said, and Sophia stepped out of the bay, picked her way over, and squirmed next to Alyona. The rock was hard on her shoulders, cold on her head. From “Disappearing Earth”Īlyona lay back.

This is apparent in various details throughout the book - from her descriptions of prefab Soviet-era apartment buildings to traditional Russian cottages, called “izbas.” Read more about those observations in her annotations below. Phillips spent a year in Kamchatka doing research before she wrote the book, steeping herself in the region’s culture and history. “That’s our chunk of disappearing earth.” Author Julia Phillips wanted to convey this “sense of fear and instability,” so she opens with a story about the 1952 Kamchatka tsunami caused by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the coast of a Russian peninsula.Īlyona’s exaggerated recounting of the tsunami is a way of entertaining her little sister Sophia, but as Phillips noted to the PBS NewsHour, it also inspired the title of the story: “The whole book rests on this story one sister tells another about a town that vanished, swept away by a giant wave,” Phillips wrote.

Learn more about the book club here.Įven before sisters Alyona and Sophia Golosovsky go missing in the novel “Disappearing Earth,” it’s not hard to pick up on the fact they are in danger.

Our April 2020 pick for the PBS NewsHour-New York Times book club is Julia Phillips’ “Disappearing Earth.” Become a member of the Now Read This book club by joining our Facebook group, or by signing up to our newsletter.

Disappearing earth novel