The Sleeping Land by Ella Alexander

Less than three years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, three archaeology grad students and their enigmatic adviser arrive at a remote cave in the heart of the Siberian wilderness to carry out the first extensive Western dig on Russian soil since the execution of the czar.

Surrounded by a looming forest with eerie silences and flickering shadows, Valerie, Kit, and Mark begin their dig under the eccentric and charismatic guidance of the venerable George Auberon. The excavation yields fascinating discoveries, and excitement grows among the team, but George's true motivations soon reveal themselves to be less noble than he originally let on.

As each member of the party grapples with the challenges of the dig, going deeper into the cave, a strange feeling sets in. Is there something else in the forest with them? Or has George's paranoid ambition gotten to them?

A powerful debut with vast imaginative range, The Sleeping Land follows a cast of memorable characters as the barriers between past and present collapse around them.

Ella Alexander is a writer from Los Angeles, currently living in Berlin. Her writing has been featured in publications including LongReads and HuffPost. The Sleeping Land is her debut novel.