Sixteen

Genre: Dystopian Fiction / Psychological Surrealism / Post-Soviet Tale

Sixteen is a haunting story about two intertwined journeys: a young woman’s escape from a psychiatric orphanage, and the hidden legacy of Soviet-era exile — both bound by the shadow of a regime that never truly lets go.

In a remote institution where winter never ends and people are known by numbers instead of names, a girl called Sixteen lives by the rules. Declared legally incompetent, she sews uniforms instead of dresses, follows orders instead of dreams, and slowly fades into the system. Life is filled with absurd celebrations that hide control, and a past that refuses to die. But when she finds a hidden file with her real name and her true home, a spark of defiance is lit.

Told in poetic language with touches of myth and surrealism, Sixteen explores memory, identity, and the quiet power of stories. Inspired by true events, it is a journey through a world where nothing is as it seems — and where even a small act of imagination can change everything.

For readers who love:

• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

• Dystopian folklore and magical realism