The Banner of the Passing Clouds

2015 Longlist

The extraordinary narrator of The Banner of the Passing Clouds is born on the day Stalin dies and is given his name- Iosif Dzhugashvili -by a hospital official. He becomes convinced that Stalin has found a new dwelling place within his chest, a burden he both welcomes and fears.

In Iosif, Anthea Nicholson has created a unique and intriguing character: a victim of the Soviet Georgian regime which infiltrates his inner life, who is also complicit in its ideology and practices. Only when Iosif unwittingly destroys his family’s happiness is he forced to question his convictions and begin on the path to redemption.

(From Publisher)

About the Author

Anthea Nicholson is a writer and visual artist who lives between England and Tbilisi in Georgia. She gained an MA with distinction in creative writing at Bath Spa University and following that she was writer in residence for a year at Batworthy Farm on Dartmoor. The Banner of the Passing Clouds is her first novel.

Librarian’s Comments

A bittersweet account of the post-Stalistic Georgia as seen through the eyes of (and conscientiously recorded by) the namesake of the great dictator – acute, poignant, spot on.