Children of Paradise

Set inside a crumbling cinema, Grudova’s novel is a darkly comic exploration of art, decay, and the strange communities built around creative work. Her prose is sharp, surreal, and gleefully peculiar. The characters are misfits united by their love of film — and by their shared descent into chaos. Grudova balances bleak humour with moments of unsettling beauty. It’s a wonderfully odd, striking novel.