The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko
A Novel
ISBN10: 1250081874
ISBN13: 9781250081872
Trade Paperback
352 Pages
$19.99
CA$27.25
An Alex Award Winner
Seventeen-year-old Ivan Isaenko is a life-long resident of the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children in Belarus. Born deformed yet mentally keen with a frighteningly sharp wit, strong intellect, and a voracious appetite for books, Ivan is forced to interact with the world through the vivid prism of his mind. For the most part, every day is exactly the same for Ivan, which is why he turns everything into a game, manipulating people and events around him for his own amusement. That is, until a new resident named Polina arrives at the hospital. At first Ivan resents Polina. She steals his books. She challenges his routine. The nurses like her. She is exquisite. But soon he cannot help being drawn to her and the two forge a romance that is tenuous and beautiful and everything they never dared dream of. Before, he survived by being utterly detached from things and people. Now Ivan wants something more: Ivan wants Polina to live.
BOOK EXCERPTS
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PART ONE
The Count Up
Currently, the clock reads 11:50 in the P.M.
It is the second day of December.
The year is 2005.
I
The...