Unsurprisingly, she feels most at home with her grandparents, who remember and dream of a sovereign Latvia. As a result, the daughter is unable to drink the milk provided to each child at school, symbolizing her fractured relationship with both her mother and the state. The mother goes missing for several days immediately after her daughter’s birth for fear of poisoning her by breastfeeding.

The daughter’s relationship with her mother can be summed up in her astute realization, “ My presence meant Bambi’s freedom.”Īs the title suggests, milk emerges as an underpinning theme.

Trapped in his cage, Bambi yearns for freedom, eats his own children, and ultimately gives up on life. Bambi the hamster, whom the daughter keeps at her grandparents’ flat, looms like a premonition in the background throughout. The atmospheric narrative infused with evocative imagery reflects both the physical state of Latvia under Soviet rule and the mental states of the protagonists. The pair meet other outcasts, such as the devout Russian Orthodox Christian, the hermaphrodite, and the dissident teacher, all of whom influence the women’s perception of the world they inhabit. She is accompanied to the countryside by her daughter, who suffers the separation from her grandparents in the capital and, from a young age, assumes responsibility for her workaholic and sometimes suicidal mother. Petersburg, has been banished to run an ambulatory center in rural Latvia. The mother is a promising gynecologist who, due to an unfortunate incident with an old soldier in St. They tell their story in a simple language that elegantly reveals their conflicted emotions and frustrated ambitions. Set in Soviet-occupied Latvia, we encounter the two memorable voices of a nameless mother and her daughter. Nora Ikstena’s Soviet Milk is most certainly one of these. Every so often, you come across a book so beautiful that you ration the pages to extend it.

Soviet Milk by Nora Ikstena