"Shortlisted in the 2025 Encounter prize"
"An epic love letter to lost Odesa"
"The White Bunnies" by Sonia Kapynus
Genre: Historical Fiction / Epic Romance
Original Language: Ukrainian
Year of Publication: 2024
Page count: 242
Format: A5 (145mm × 205mm)
Rights Available: World (English, Spanish, German, etc.)
An epic historical love story set in Odesa and Athens, “White Bunnies” captures the dislocation of exile and the triumph of life over war. Structured as memoir-in-letters, the novel opens in Athens, 1922: a pregnant young woman named Sonechka writes to a friend in Constantinople while preparing to marry.
Her letters trace a luminous Odesa childhood within the Jewish intelligentsia, the chaos of Bolshevik occupation, and a dramatic night-time escape by ship during the January 1920 evacuation. At the core lies her enduring love for her first husband—a celebrated Odesa doctor now missing in action. From their first meeting to their last night together, this is a chronicle of fragile yet unbreakable devotion.
Why It Sells
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Timeless Historical Appeal: Atmospheric and sweeping, it echoes the emotional scale of The Nightingale and The English Patient.
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The Odesa Narrative: Offers a rare, sophisticated look at Odesa’s golden age and its Jewish heritage—a topic of high interest for international literary prizes.
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Masterful Epistolary Style: The intimate letter format makes for a deeply personal reading experience, perfectly suited for high-quality translation and audiobook production.
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Modern Relevance: A poignant exploration of the refugee experience and the dislocation of war that feels hauntingly relevant to today's global headlines.
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