This is a story about a naive young man who dreams of a romantic future and an open door to endless possibilities. Instead,
 he ends up in Afghanistan in the hellscape of war, where he is forced to do almost anything to salvage any semblance of a future. In this future, however, it will be easier to kill than to love. A Lutheran minister and Gulag survivor serves only God, because the villagers often avoid even saying hello to him. A talented researcher at the turn of the millennium dreams about a career in science, but in order to support his family, he ends up selling tractors. A once famous journalist, now an addict, is excited about getting the scoop of his career without realizing that he is being played by the secret service. There are echoes from witch trials, death and love in Paris, a walk into the realm of silence, and fragments of overheard phone conversations, secretly copied letters and text messages that the reader must put together like pieces of a puzzle. Dust in the Hourglass was shortlisted for the 2014 Annual Latvian Literature Award.

Contacts: Bārbala Simsone, barbala.simsone@zvaigzne.lv

The main character, Ronalds Bergs, returns at long last to his native Riga. His life to date has been spent firstly as a professional basketball player and then as bodyguard to a Russian oligarch; he was shot in the line of duty and is still recovering from his injury. It’s high time for him to embark on a more peaceful life! In a department store, he runs into a former schoolmate. The two of them used to be inseparable and decide their chance encounter deserves a celebratory drink. Bergs learns that his old friend is now a professor and research scientist, working on an international, European project investigating old maps and researching ancient castle mounds and buildings.

Contacts: Bārbala Simsone, barbala.simsone@zvaigzne.lv

This novel focuses on the people of Latvia in the 1990s. Medieval kings longed to get their hands on the Philosopher’s stone, a substance extolled by alchemists for its promise of eternal youth, happiness, and wealth. In the 1990s, history repeated itself much more simply – without any secret teachings or veiled intimations. People started chasing blindly after red mercury; a product of the imagination of Soviet intelligence services, an implausible miracle potion capable of granting world domination to whoever had it in their possession. Yet these people were out-numbered by those who simply wished to get on with their lives, to be happy and to love. As the wheels of the epochs turned, dreams and illusions crumbled – it was no easy task holding onto both oneself and one’s self-esteem in the ensuing turmoil. Latvia suddenly broke free, but not everyone had the strength to find that freedom within, as each and every one of us strove for survival. The novel depicts a wide spectrum of society. There are those from an older generation who received, with independence, an unexpected opportunity to finally meet their relatives who had been driven into exile. There are Soviet secret service agents, and there are the defenders of independence. The last of the forest brothers comes out of his forest after fifty years spent in hiding as a result of his rejection of Soviet power. And there are also the very young who desire to be happy but are oblivious to how heavily their first steps into the free wild world are about to test them.

Contacts: Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dgramata.lv