The Banner of the Passing Clouds - Hardcover

A startling debut... Andrea Nicholson has created a weird and compelling voice that somehow manages to be by turns unsettling, wise and pierced with regret. Nicholson's writing is psychologically astute, and intense with insight. --Guardian

This is a surprising, inventive, first novel. --The Lady

Supple, rhythmic and deeply funny. --Ivan Juritz, Literary Review

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.