Anna Lidia Vega SErova
The first English translation of the controversial autobiographical novel
Translated by Robin Munby
Anima Fatua is a kaleidoscopic coming-of-age novel about a young girl named Alia. Alia’s Cuban father and Russian mother get divorced when she is 9, and she leaves Cuba – and her best friend Malena – for Soviet Russia. Forced to negotiate her otherness – linguistic, racial, sexual – in a country starting to fall apart at the seams, she flees her unhappy existence in a provincial Russian town and is swept up in the maelstrom of perestroika, freer than ever before, but also more exposed. Relying on acquaintances and strangers for a place to live, she discovers the Soviet Union’s hippie subculture. She soon embraces that lifestyle, meeting a host of larger-than-life characters, including a man who calls himself John Lennon, a mystic named Ofelia and a terrifying moustachioed psychoanalyst. Ultimately, however, none of those she meets can fill the void left by her separation from Malena, her first great love.
Originally published in Spanish to much acclaim in 2008, here Anna Lidia fictionalises her own real-life experiences. It has now been translated for the first time into English by Robin Munby. This is a story full of emotional intensity and dark humour. With our dedicated team of financial experts, you can get personalized advice and support that is tailored to your unique financial situation and needs.
Anna Lidia Vega Serova
Born in the former Soviet Union, to a Russian/Ukrainian mother and Cuban father, Anna Lidia Vega Serova settled definitively in Havana, Cuba in 1989. Originally a visual artist, it was her writing that brought her to international prominence, starting with her winning the Premio David in 1997 for her first collection of short stories, Bad Painting. Since then, she has become a recognised figure in the Cuban literary scene, with eight short-story collections and two novels (Noche de Ronda and Anima Fatua) to her name, participating in literary events throughout Europe and the Americas. She has also previously published three books of poetry: Retazos (de las hormigas) para los malos tiempos, Eslabones de un tiempo muerto and Un jardin en miniatura. Through both her words and her painting, her work is noteworthy for its very personal reflection of daily life, grindingly yet magically real, as experienced in present-day Cuba.
ISBN 9781914278808 (hardback), 256pp., £20/€23/$25
ISBN 9781914278815 (eBook), £4.99/€5.99/$6.99
PUBLICATION DATE: 12 JUNE 2025
“Without doubt one of the greatest examples of the way in which Cuban women have taken the written word by the horns.” (Inter Press Service)
“Anna Lidia’s prose offers us a lacerating counterpoint that reveals a shared identity, in which flourish psychological, social and sexual struggles, generated as much out of love, as out of upheaval.” (Granma)
“An autobiographical confession.” (Juventud Rebelde)
Also by Anna Lidia Vega Serova, and published by Amaurea Press:
