'The novel reaches a powerful denouement . . . An ambitious debut which, like the classics Martin reads, chronicles an individual's struggle to lead a meaningful life'

– Independent on Sunday

'Elegant and dramatic - my favourite kind of company. Back to Moscow is a book to get lost in, like a city. A rich and deeply charming debut'

– Emma Jane Unsworth, author of Animals

'Erades savours the sweetness and cruelty of conquest with a candour that rivals that of Milan Kundera. And as Martin's luck falters, Erades tumbles his hero into a sentimental education with a slyness worthy of Chekhov'

– Caleb Crain, author of Necessary Errors

'Erades has written the rare novel whose last paragraphs offer up a genuine epiphany, wholly earned and wholly unexpected. With its final gesture, the story reveals its true shape. It's an act of magic, one I can't stop thinking about'

– Kevin Brockmeier, author of The Illumination

'[A] cleverly satisfying first novel . . . Back to Moscow is quite an imaginative trip'

– Charles Larson, CounterPunch on Back to Moscow

'One of the book’s strongest suits is its snapshot of Moscow as it descends into the Putin-era free-for-all. Erades shows how the rise of the oligarchs with their ‘black humvees and whores’ supplants the equally dark Soviet past, bringing economic chaos and moral uncertainty . . . Erades makes this kind of contemplative fiction look easy'

– Jude Cook, Litro on Back to Moscow

'Back to Moscow is a lively and engaging work. Erades develops Martin from being careless with his relationships to finally appreciating a stable one . . . The tone and feel of much of this recalls . . . Henry Miller's novels Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn'

– Ross Southernwood, Sydney Morning Herald on Back to Moscow

'With hints of Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange, notes of Gary Shteyngart, and a shadow of Masha Gessen, Erades’s first novel is part frothy concoction and part deadly hemlock. As confident as a reality TV show, the story begs to read in one sitting'

– Library Journal on Back to Moscow

'A coming-of-age novel set in Moscow, Erades' debut plays with tropes of student life, literary devotion, and travel. . . . Erades' structure mimics the movement of Martin through the city, through his life?always yearning yet not always heading in the right direction. An appealingly chaotic?if familiar?look at the inner life of a young 'intellectual''

– Kirkus Reviews on Back to Moscow

'Russia’s capital is the most dynamic character in Erades’s boozy bildungsroman . . . readers will appreciate the texture and detail Erades gives to Moscow'

– Publishers Weekly on Back to Moscow

'Powerful . . . an ambitious debut which . . . chronicles an individual’s struggle to lead a meaningful life'

– Max Liu, The Independent on Back to Moscow