From Ludmilla Petrushevskayaamp160New York Timesamp160amp160bestselling author and Russias greatest living absurdist comes an elaborate family drama social satire and burlesque of twists coincidences and hijinks.amp160Kidnapped is a madcap crime spree that caroms from crisis to crisis through lands real and imagined. It tells the tale of Sergei Sertsov not one but two boys from Moscow with more than just a name in common and the women who go amp160to great lengths to protect them. The story unfurls in a whirlwind of deceit and double crossingbabies are switched at birth documents forged palms greased identities assumed deaths faked and authorities duped. Across decades and continents the narrative veers from a trade office in tropical Handia to Russia as it plunges through perestroika and into postSoviet free fall to a mansion in opulent Montegasco at the start of the twentyfirst century. With a dizzying array of characters and settings Kidnapped is a hilarious saga of determined women triumphing over their many oppressors to save the people they love.amp160