The year is 1993. In a collapsing post-Soviet town, a former serviceman, Vasily Mikhailovich, accepts work as the director of a remote juvenile prison colony. Determined to bring order and empathy to a brutal system, he starts a programme of rehabilitation for the young boys. But he is soon thwarted by the corruption around him. As he watches the people nearby prosper through deceit and cruelty, he is forced to make a choice: to uphold his principles and risk everything, or surrender them to protect his family.
Based on real accounts of educational colonies during the Russian free-market transition, Going to Zossen is an exploration of the bargains ordinary people make under oppressive systems – a necessary read in today’s political climate. Ideal for fans of Claire Keegan's Small Things Like These and Colson Whitehead's The Nickel Boys.