Sofka Zinovieff's Desert island Books

Featuring an astounding collection of poetry, and the book Sofka re-reads every decade...

Many moons ago, when I decided to launch a book club in Bondi, I knew I wanted to spotlight a novelist whose work might not yet have reached everyone’s radar—rather than selecting an author like Austen or Ann Patchett. I also wanted a novel that would spark meaningful conversations and spirited debate; a book that we would remember—and think about—for years to come. Enter Putney by Sofka Zinovief.

A devastating, brilliantly nuanced exploration of power, memory, and the lies we tell ourselves to survive, in Putney, Sofka masterfully captures the dissonance between past and present through protagonist Daphne's slow reckoning with a childhood relationship she once saw as love. Told through shifting perspectives, the novel refuses easy answers, instead immersing the reader in moral ambiguity and emotional complexity. Both haunting and poignant, Putney offers readers an unflinching look at consent, complicity, and the long shadows cast by unchecked desire.

I was therefore thrilled to discover that Sofka had recently released a new novel, Stealing Dad—a story that begins with a provocative question: What do you do when you're not allowed to attend your father's funeral? This dilemma confronts the far-flung children of Alekos, a successful yet controversial Greek sculptor, upon his death in London. Despite the firm opposition of his widow—his last wife—the siblings from his many marriages come together for the first time. Bound by loss and unresolved histories, they decide to take matters into their own hands. If Putney is anything to go by, we’re in for quite the treat with Stealing Dad and I can’t wait to carve out an afternoon in the London sun over the coming weeks to get lost between its pages. Sofka’s gift for navigating complex emotional terrain with subtlety and insight is rare—and always rewarding. If you’d like to buy a copy of Stealing Dad, please consider doing so on Bookshop.org—a better way to shop online, with every purchase supporting local independent bookstores.

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I believe in writing without a paywall—but it does take time. If you’re enjoying this post, I’d be so grateful if you considered buying me a coffee. It would absolutely make my day.

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It was such a thrill to have Sofka take part in my Desert Island Books series and to learn more about the stories that have shaped her. From a remarkable collection of poetry to the book she re-reads every decade, her selection of eight titles offers a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a writer whose work lingers long after the final page is turned.

Bad Relations by Cressida Connolly

An astonishing novel that follows Connolly’s flawless After the Party. The scenes shift from the Crimean War to 1970s teenagers in Cornwall, as unlikely family connections create bridges that span the centuries. Tragedy, war, love and grief are all described in shimmering, taut prose that is utterly compelling and left me breathless and wanting to start again at the beginning.

Iron Curtain by Vesna Goldsworthy

The Serbian-British author of memoir, poetry and fiction (Gorsky, Monsieur Ka) her latest novel pulls you in from the first page. A ‘red princess’ of the elite in a cold-war-ear Soviet satellite country, Milena falls in love with a young English poet and abandons her privilege behind the Iron Curtain for ‘freedom’ but pecuniary hardship in England. Loosely inspired by the myth of Medea, it’s witty, gripping and magnificently intelligent. The first fan letter I ever wrote to an author was to Vesna, for her Chernobyl Strawberries, and we’ve been friends ever since.

Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst

I adore all the Booker Prize-winner’s novels (including The Line of Beauty, and The Swimming Pool Library) and his latest is as beautiful and engrossing as ever. We follow the hero Dave Win throughout his life, beginning with the clever, shy scholarship boy and his single mother, who reveals little about the history of his Burmese father. Dave is bullied for being biracial and must navigate his coming of age as gay during the 1960s and ‘70s. The book charts his work and loves as an actor with unrivalled prose and delicious humour. Memorable characters include Dave’s seamstress mother and her partner Esme; and his ‘coming out’ emerges from various directions.

Bird School by Adam Nicolson

The author of numerous varied books on history and nature, I am constantly surprised by how almost any subject can be made compelling if it is written about well enough. Nicolson dives deep into the world of birds that live around him in the English countryside. He opened my eyes to the mysteries and fascination of these creatures and the joys of getting closer to them. There is no shying away from their decimation by environmental factors, so we need to take notice before we lose them. Moving and delightful.

Friendship by Michael Jackson

Renowned anthropologist and poet, Jackson is the author of thirty-seven extremely varied books. Born in New Zealand and latterly a professor at Harvard, his recent book is a musing on different sorts of friendship, from Aristotle to friends he made doing fieldwork in Sierra Leone. One chapter includes my friendship with the author, whom I met aged nineteen, but have only seen twice since. We’ve written letters (and latterly, emails) over the subsequent decades, which have formed the basis of our unusual friendship.

Rhizodont by Katrina Porteous

This astounding collection by the Northumbrian poet was shortlisted for the 2025 T.S. Eliot prize. A Rhizodont is the giant swampy fish that adapted to move onto land 330 million years ago and the poems make you dizzy with thoughts of planetary time and our place in processes too huge to comprehend. Yet there are also touching explorations of local communities, of recent technological revolutions and of pressing environmental issues. I came away overwhelmed by the scope yet touched and amused by the deft insight into human lives.

This Afterlife: Selected Poems by A.E. Stallings

This Runciman Award-winning collection of the American poet (current Oxford Professor of Poetry) spans decades and showcases much of her best work. Her formally structured, rhyming poems feature family life, bringing up children in Athens, her deep knowledge of ancient Greek myth and literature and her long-time support of refugees arriving in Greece. The results manage to be both entertaining, heavyweight and inspiring. Stallings balances tragedy and domesticity with panache and wit.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, Translated by Kyril Zinovieff and Jenny Hughes

One of my favourite books that I re-read every decade, finding new things to love and appreciating aspects that I hadn’t noticed when I was younger. This version was translated into English by my beloved Russian Great-Uncle Kyril when he was in his 90s. He was helped by his partner Jenny (they’d both been widowed and fell in love in old age), and I witnessed their remarkable collaboration with joy and admiration. I’m increasingly aware of the vital significance of translation and how each version is a different book in its own right. This one is a marvel and—isolated on my island—I will also think of two people I loved who are no longer alive.