Futility : a novel on Russian themes

A wandering Englishman, stranded in a shabby Vladivostok hostel, becomes an accidental observer of a Russian family's fragile hopes. When the steamship Simbirsk vanishes, taking three sisters toward an uncertain Shanghai, the narrator’s notebook fills with their conversations, customs and the uneasy humor that springs from cultural clash. The opening pages balance the starkness of a cold port with moments of unexpected tenderness, making the foreign feel strangely familiar.

Through crisp, observant prose the story sketches the lives of people caught between duty and desire, while the narrator’s own restless longing for home mirrors the sisters’ own yearning for safety. The novel captures the hush of rain on a windowpane, the cramped comfort of a table‑cloth turned into a sheet, and the quiet absurdities of daily Russian life. It invites listeners to follow a journey that is both a literal voyage and a subtle exploration of how two worlds perceive one another.