In all his work, the critically acclaimed Emmanuel Carrere has trained his unblinking gaze on the lives of others as they fight a losing battle with that most fearsome of adversaries: the self. Now, determined to escape the bleak visions of his narratives, he takes on a film project in the heart of Russia, while also embarking on a new love affair back home in Paris; but soon enough, the diversion he seeks eludes him, intimacy proves too arduous and Carrere is left peering into the dark mirror of his own life. Set in Paris and Kotelnich, a small post-Soviet town, A Russian Novel traces Carrere's pursuit of two obsessions: the disappearance of his Russian grandfather and his fascination with a woman he loves but cannot keep from destroying. Elegant and passionate, A Russian Novel weaves the strands of Carrere's story into a travelogue of a journey inward. Road trip, confession, emotional tour de force, this fearless reckoning illuminates the schemes we devise to evade ourselves and the inevitable payment they exact.