Somewhere in Paris, there is a windowless room filled with young Eastern European women. They are all named Natasha.

Béatrice is a solitary young jazz singer from a genteel Parisian suburb. She meets a mysterious woman named Polina, who visits her at night and whispers in her ear about girls who are named Natasha.

César, a lonely Mexican actor working in a call centre, receives the opportunity of a lifetime: a role as a serial killer on a French TV series. But as he prepares for the audition, he starts to identify himself with the psychopath he is to play.

Each of them is trapped in their own world of humiliation and anxiety. And yet, as their lives begin to overlap, the possibility that they might find some kind of freedom begins to emerge.

Moskovich often ignores the conventions of realism. The Natashas feels like a long, surreal dream sequence, where past and present, reality and imagination sometimes blend into one another. The style of the novel is very cinematic and the rhythm of the storytelling is reminiscent of the work of David Lynch. The mood is also similar to the photographic world of Cindy Sherman.

Yelena Moskovich wrote a highly original and intriguing debut novel. The unsettling atmosphere of The Natashas will haunt the reader for a long time.

The Natashas was published in January 2016 by Serpent’s Tail (London). The French translation will be published in 2017 by Éditions Viviane Hamy.