The Girl in the Water

Next Year's Snow, Book 1

by Joseph Howse

Four teenagers and a feral cat navigate life in Gorbachev's USSR, in this tragicomedy set against a backdrop of civilizations in decline. At its centre is Nadia, a Soviet girl who witnesses her friend's near-drowning on a remote northern beach. Progressively, her life is pulled apart by her family's migration to Ukraine, a dubious courtship, the Chernobyl disaster, police surveillance and an Afghan war. Winner of the 2023 Independent Press Award for Literary Fiction and a Distinguished Favorite in Audiobook Fiction at the 2026 NYC Big Book Award. The audiobook (16 hours) is narrated by Annette Chown.