The Saviour of Lasnamäe

Natalya Filippovna may be a middle-aged, single mother and member of the Russian minority in Estonia, but she is content with her simple life. She has a flat, a job at an electronics factory and, most importantly, she has her bright and ambitious teenaged daughter, Sofia. Money is tight, but they make do — that is, until Sofia requires a lengthy, expensive dental procedure and Natalya loses her job. With bills piling up and Sofia’s dental procedure only part finished, Natalya reluctantly accepts an undesirable mode of income. As she and Sofia adjust to their changing situations, Natalya falls for a mysterious, kind man, and her life takes yet another unexpected turn.

The Saviour of Lasnamäe won the Estonian Cultural Endowment’s Prize for Literature in 2008. The author, Mari Saat, also won the prize in 1992 and 1999.