Nobody Told Me About Tbilisi – A Book by Olga Sverchkova
Notes from Someone Who Only Meant to Stay for a While
I came to Tbilisi for a little while. At least, that was what I told everyone. Then came neighbours who knew everything, hot bread that never made it home intact, taxi drivers who had already chosen the route, old lifts, disappearing water, and conversations that always lasted longer than expected. Nobody Told Me About Tbilisi is a collection of thirty warm and gently ironic stories about a city that feels unfamiliar at first and then, almost without warning, becomes home.
What Is Nobody Told Me About Tbilisi About?
Thirty warm and gently ironic stories about the Tbilisi people actually live in.
Nobody Told Me About Tbilisi is narrative nonfiction about the real Tbilisi – not the tourist version or the polished postcard, but the city people actually live in. It is a city of neighbours who know everything before you have told them anything, taxi drivers who have already decided where you need to go, old lifts with rules of their own, balconies that hold half a lifetime, and hot bread that somehow never makes it home intact. These are stories about ordinary days, small absurdities, unexpected kindness, misunderstandings, habits, and the people without whom Tbilisi would be nothing more than a beautiful place on a map. And when you need a little salt, it may simply arrive from an upstairs neighbour in a basket.
What You Will Find Inside
The small things that make Tbilisi impossible to explain and difficult to forget.
A loaf of hot bread that was supposed to make it home. A neighbour lowering a basket from an upstairs balcony. Taxi drivers who know the city, your destination, and occasionally your life better than you do. Old lifts that require coins, patience, and a certain philosophical attitude. Water that disappears without warning. And the curious elasticity of the phrase “I’ll be quick.”
Thirty stories, each with its own original illustration. At the end of every chapter, there is also a Georgian Word of the Day – because sometimes one word can explain more about a city than an entire guidebook.
Start Reading for Free
Read the prologue and the first five chapters – no registration required.
Prologue. I Came to Tbilisi for a Little While
A temporary move has an inconvenient habit of turning into a life.
Chapter 1. On People Who Say, “I’ll Be Right Back”
In Tbilisi, a minute is not always a unit of time.
Chapter 2. On the Bread That Never Makes It Home Whole
Buying hot Georgian bread is easy. Getting it all the way home is another matter.
Chapter 3. On Balconies, Where Half of Life Is Kept
In Tbilisi, a balcony is rarely just a balcony.
Chapter 4. On the Salt That Comes Down From the Third Floor
Sometimes borrowing a little salt requires no stairs, no doorbell, and no explanation.
Chapter 5. On Taxi Drivers Who’ve Already Decided
You may know where you want to go. Your Tbilisi taxi driver may have other ideas.
And That Was Only the Beginning
If these streets, neighbours, taxi drivers, and small Tbilisi absurdities already feel familiar, the rest of the city is waiting inside the book. There are twenty-five more stories about the moments when an unfamiliar city slowly, almost imperceptibly, becomes your own.
You may come for the city, but by the end you are likely to remember the people.
Book Details
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About the Author
The Story Behind Nobody Told Me About Tbilisi
My name is Olga Sverchkova, and I am a writer and lawyer who spent more than twenty years practising law in St. Petersburg before life, with its usual disregard for carefully made plans, brought me to Tbilisi. Working as a lawyer taught me to listen to people and, perhaps more importantly, to notice the things that are said almost in passing: a change in tone, an unnecessary detail, a gesture, a contradiction, or some small oddity that seems insignificant until you realise it contains the whole story. I came to Tbilisi in 2023 intending to stay for a little while, and for some time I simply lived here, learning the city in the ordinary way rather than trying to write about it. Then I began writing things down. Those notes became stories, and those stories eventually became Nobody Told Me About Tbilisi. I am also a recipient of the Golden Pen of Russia award for my legal writing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nobody Told Me About Tbilisi is a narrative nonfiction book by Olga Sverchkova about everyday life in Tbilisi, Georgia. Through thirty short stories, it explores the neighbours, habits, misunderstandings, small absurdities, and unexpected moments through which an unfamiliar city gradually becomes home.
No. It is narrative nonfiction about everyday life in Tbilisi, told through the people, habits, misunderstandings, and small events that reveal a city in ways a traditional guidebook usually cannot.
Yes. The prologue and first five chapters are available free on this website, with no registration required.
The complete book is available as a Kindle eBook and paperback through Amazon, as well as a digital edition in PDF and EPUB through Gumroad.
Yes. The paperback edition is available through Amazon.
Contact the Author
Questions about the book, reviews, interviews, or collaborations? You can reach me directly.