Sofka Zinovieff was born in London, has Russian ancestry and has lived in Greece for many years. Her latest book is an explosive and thought-provoking novel about the far-reaching repercussions of an illicit relationship between a young girl and a much older man.
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‘A novel that interrogates the intersection of love, desire, and abuse... reminiscent of the work of Iris Murdoch and A.S. Byatt...Timely and nuanced’
 Kirkus starred review
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The Book that will have everyone talking.
i newspaper's best summer reads 2018
'Zinovieff’s dark and disturbing novel delicately probes the lines between abuse and consent.’
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Cannot recommend this book enough.
Fiona Melrose (author of Midwinter)
'You will be seduced, regret that seduction, swap sides, feel complicit, question yourself and the characters, the book, our current world, the multiple stories, yet never feel manipulated in a cheap trick kind of way.’
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'This book is truly memorable and thought-provoking; throughout, Zinovieff sustains wonderfully perplexing and complex ambiguities. What is love, and what is exploitation? What is truth and what is self-deception? What is righteousness and what is hypocrisy? Can contradictions be simultaneously true? It’s a great story and a riveting read. I’ll remember the characters forever'
Louis de Bernières
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Isabel Costello July 18 2018 My support for authors taking risks with controversial subjects, mentioned in the intro, is in the context of people being free to choose what (or what not) to read. I chose to read Putney, but I can’t... Read The Rest →
Allison Pearson 15 July 2018 The story of an older man’s transgressive relationship with a child – among the hottest books of this blazing summer https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/cant-decide-books-pack-holiday-leave/
Laura Bailey 9 July 2018 Putney by Sofka Zinovieff. I read this greedily over the course of a day – in a rush-hour taxi, in the brief exhalation between extra time and penalties, and in bed beside my kids with a... Read The Rest →
Philip Womack 19 July 2018 Sofka Zinovieff’s new novel, Putney, is an involving, beautifully written, and subtle account of an affair in the 1970s between Ralph, a composer in his thirties, and Daphne, a young girl, who is nine when she... Read The Rest →
Natasha Tripney Mon 16 Jul 2018 The first time Ralph sets eyes on Daphne he’s attracted to her. He intrigues her too; she’s delighted that this idiosyncratic, charming acquaintance of her father’s, a talented composer, seems so intensely interested in... Read The Rest →
A novel that interrogates the intersection of love, desire, and abuse. Ralph Boyd, a renowned avant-garde composer, is in his 70s and fighting cancer. Daphne Greenslay has emerged from a few volatile, precarious decades into middle-aged peace. She’s a single... Read The Rest →
