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Title details for Babayaga by Toby Barlow - Available

Babayaga

by Toby Barlow
Dan John Miller
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Will is a young American ad executive in Paris. Except his agency is a front for the CIA. It's 1959 and the Cold War is going strong. But Will doesn't think he's a warrior—he's just a good-hearted Detroit ad guy who can't seem to figure out Parisian girls.


Zoya is a beautiful young woman wandering les boulevards, sad-eyed, and coming off a bad breakup. In fact, she impaled her ex on a spike. Zoya, it turns out, has been a beautiful young woman for hundreds of years; she and her far more traditionally witchy-looking companion, Elga, have been thriving unnoticed in the bloody froth of Europe's wars.


Inspector Vidot is a hardworking Paris police detective who cherishes quiet nights at home. But when he follows a lead from a grisly murder to the abode of an ugly old woman, he finds himself turned into a flea.


Oliver is a patrician, fun-loving American who has come to Paris to start a literary journal with the help of friends in D.C., who ask for a few favors in return. He's in well over his head, but it's nothing that a cocktail can't fix. Right?


Add a few chance encounters, a chorus of some more angry witches, a strung-out jazzman or two, a weaponized LSD program, and a cache of rifles buried in the Bois de Bologne—and that's a novel! But while Toby Barlow's Babayaga may start as just a joyful romp though the City of Light, it quickly grows into a daring, moving exploration of love, mortality, and responsibility.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 30, 2013

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781452695877
      • File size: 413717 KB
      • Duration: 14:21:54

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Toby Barlow's novel manages to tie together Russian folklore, witches, pharmaceuticals, and Cold War espionage. And it all makes perfect sense! His efforts are greatly enhanced in the audiobook version by Dan John Miller, a vocal chameleon who, without losing a beat, transforms from a Russian crone (a babayaga, or witch) to a Parisian beauty, a confused American hero, and an effete snob. Miller also makes female voices perfectly believable. The writing in this work is outstanding. All the disparate elements come together for an inspired plot that would be damaged if one were foolish enough to say anything more about it. M.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 22, 2013
      Russian folklore and Cold War intrigue come to blows in Barlow’s uneven but charming five-part novel. The reader is introduced to Zoya, a babayaga, or witch, living in Paris some years after WWII, as she gets rid of a lover who has noticed her failure to visibly age. The messy results lead her to drag in Elga, her mentor; Elga in turn gets heat from a detective and turns him into a flea. Zoya then meets, charms, and falls for a CIA agent named Will who has problems of his own. As Elga takes on a new novice in order to take revenge on Zoya, Will’s mistakes entangle him in a CIA plot involving a former Nazi doctor with ties to the babayagas. The love story between Zoya and Will never quite gains believability, and the first half of the novel is slow, but the history Barlow (Sharp Teeth )weaves for the babayagas—Elga in particular—is worth reading. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, the Gernert Company.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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