★Winner of the 2023 Russian Major Literary Award - the 21st Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award for "Best Contemporary Russian Literary Work"!
★New work by Alexandra Nikolayenko, a Russian Booker Prize-winning author and one of the most powerful contemporary Russian female writers! Almost every one of her works has achieved tremendous success!
★This novel tells the story of a chilling childhood without the protection of a rational adult, expressing the fragility and helplessness of a child's consciousness, and exposing the conversations hidden under the guise of love, the power exerted by the strong over the weak, the self-interest lies disguised by sacrifice, and self-deception.
★From a literary and philosophical perspective, the book is powerfully designed in the context of memories, based on the familiar genre of memory literature, driven by the protagonist Petrusha's reminiscences of his deceased parents and grandmother from his early years.
★We are the gods of ants and also the ants of God. A book that allows us to read, feel, and learn how to bear death, a book filled with wise philosophical contemplation, and also a difficult and heavy book. Some say that after reading this book once, they cannot read it again because it is too hurtful and heart-wrenching. Readers must accept death on every page and continue to live with this acceptance of death. However, despite this, the inevitability of death cannot eliminate the beauty of life, the world, and the love for this world.
★This book is about everyone's personal responsibility: the responsibility of the strong for the weak, the responsibility of the elderly for the young; about how to accept the inescapable death in life: one's own death and the death of loved ones; about how to understand the world, how to continue to move forward with love after pain, the ability to let go will become the outlet for many questions in the novel.
★As always, the book still features illustrations drawn by the author herself, as a continuation of her creation of the world.

This book tells of a summer in the memories of the protagonist, Petrusha.
In a village on the outskirts of Moscow, the poverty of the post-Soviet era is laid bare: rotten porch steps covered with fragments of old carpets, used old newspapers, broken old electricity meters, rusty basins, and some old rags...

In one house lies the grandfather Daniel, who has been paralyzed and unable to speak for years after a stroke. The grandmother calls him "the dead man." People will not only notice her love and care for the grandfather but also see her constant scolding and control.

The grandmother is strong, and the atmosphere of the cottage this summer is dominated by her. She is a complex and contradictory character, even partly mysterious: her traits are care and scolding, love and hypocrisy, dictatorship and dedication, strictness and responsibility coexist. She has demands for everyone around her. She seems strong but has never been able to psychologically accept the death of her son and daughter-in-law, and blames her grandson Petrusha as the culprit, calling him "the damned murderer," "the god of death," "Satan"... Petrusha's parents died in a car accident, the car was won in a lottery, and the lottery ticket was bought by the grandmother at Petrusha's urging. Faced with the desolation of losing his parents, the grandmother's accusations and curses, the helpless boy has nowhere to go, and he has no defense against his grandmother. Death permeates his consciousness, spreads in his heart until it fills everything, and the resistance to death becomes more and more difficult, even branding the belief in death in his heart.

There is a painting of Bryullov's "The Last Day of Pompeii" hanging in the room (copied by Petrusha's father's friend), and Petrusha stares at the people in the painting who are running away in fear of death like ants every day. Those who have died in the past and are about to die in the painting seem to die once every time he looks at them. Because of this, ants have become his playthings, he pours kerosene on the ants and ignites them, which is like a volcanic eruption for the ants. He observes the death of the ants and feels as if he is their God, deciding their life and death.

Three years after Petrusha's parents died, his grandfather also passed away. The death of passers-by in a car accident, the death of the little crow Vally, the death of the puppy Sharik, and the death of the neighbor's kitten, the death events that fill the daily life, visits to the cemetery, and funerals constantly appear in the pages of the book. The tormented boy Petrusha poses complex questions to God, asking the creator about the meaning of suffering, like a philosopher trying to survive in an absurd world.

There is a girl named Sasha next door. Throughout the summer, the most Petrusha said to his grandmother was "Can I go to Sasha's house to play?" Sasha is a bit older than him, she is cheerful and lively, an image of a happy childhood, and also the saving lighthouse for the protagonist who is drifting in the vast ocean. There are also many beautiful poetic descriptions of nature in the book, blooming rural gardens, raspberries hidden behind fences, and a summer kingdom dreamed of by a nine-year-old boy in winter. They form a strong contrast with the reality faced by the protagonist.

We are the God of ants and also the ants of God. In the requiem, of course, there will be no happy ending, only the inevitable death. Readers must accept death on every page and continue to live with this acceptance of death. However, despite this, the inevitability of death cannot eliminate the beauty of life, the world, and the love for this world. This book is about everyone's personal responsibility: the responsibility of the strong for the weak, the responsibility of the elderly for the young, the responsibility of one person for another, about how to accept the inescapable death in life: one's own death and the death of relatives; about how to understand the world, how to continue to move forward with love after pain, the ability to let go will become the outlet for many questions in the novel.

【Author】Alexandra Nikolayenko
One of the most powerful contemporary female writers in Russian literature! A literary star attracting widespread attention! Nikolayenko graduated from the National Moscow Stroganov University of Arts and Industry, but has loved words since childhood, starting her creative journey in high school. Besides being a writer, she is also a renowned illustrator, known for her unique black-and-white illustration style that carries deep meaning, with her works featured in many outstanding publications. Since entering the literary scene in 2016, Alexandra Nikolayenko has been prolific, with almost every work achieving tremendous success!

【Awards】
Killing Bobrykin: Winner of the 2017 Russian Literature Prize - Russian Booker Prize! Winner of the 2017 Russian Anti-Traditional Arts Award! Successfully staged at the Moscow Puppet Theatre!

The Postman from Heaven, Bulkin: Nominated for the 2019 Russian National Bestseller Award and the Russian Big Book Award! It has excellent sales and reputation, being referred to as the Russian version of The Little Prince!

The People Who Live As Usual: Nominated for one of the most prestigious awards in Russian literature, the Yasnaya Polyana Award (2021)! Russian President's cultural advisor Vladimir Ilyich Tolstoy also attended the book's launch event!

God of Ants: Requiem: Winner of one of the most prestigious awards in contemporary Russian literature, the Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award (2023) - "Best Contemporary Literature Work in Russia"!