num_pages: 342
description: A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian meets Desperate Housewives in this exploration of the booming business of Russian e-mail-order brides an industry where love and marriage collide with sex and commerce.Odessa Ukraine is the humour capital of the former Soviet Union but in an upside-down world where waiters earn more than doctors and Odessans depend on the Mafia for basics like phone service and medical supplies no one is laughing. After months of job hunting Daria a young engineer finds a plum position at a foreign firm as a secretary. But every plum has a pit. In this case its Mr. Harmon who makes it clear that sleeping with him is job one. Daria evades Harmons advances by recruiting her neighbour the slippery Olga to be his mistress. But soon Olga sets her sights on Darias job. Daria begins to moonlight as an interpreter at Soviet Unions(TM) a matchmaking agency that organizes socials where lonely American men can meet desperate Odessan women. Her grandmother wants Daria to leave Ukraine for good and pushes her to marry one of the men she meets but Daria already has feelings for a local. She must choose between her world and America between Vlad a sexy irresponsible mobster and Tristan a teacher nearly twice her age. Daria chooses security and America. Only its not exactly what she thought it would be A wry tender and darkly funny look at marriage the desires we dont acknowledge and the aftermath of communism Moonlight in Odessa is a novel about the choices and sacrifices that people make in the pursuit of love and stability.
language: English
title: Moonlight in Odessa
publisher: Bloomsbury USA