Set in Paris and Kotelnich, a small post-Soviet town, A Russian Novel traces Carrère's pursuit of two obsessions: the disappearance of his Russian grandfather and his fascination with a woman he loves but cannot keep from destroying.

Elegant and passionate, A Russian Novel weaves the strands of Carrère's story into a travelogue of a journey inward. Road trip, confession, emotional tour de force, this fearless reckoning illuminates the schemes we devise to evade ourselves and the inevitable payment they exact as we discover we cannot, after all, escape our most fearsome and persistent adversary: yourself.