When Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, millions of lives changed in an instant. Millions of people were suddenly on the move. In this great flow of people was a reporter from the north of Scotland. Jen Stout left Moscow abruptly, ending up on a border post in southeast Romania, from where she began to cover the human cost of Russian aggression.
Her first-hand, vivid reporting brought the war home to readers in Scotland as she reported from front lines and cities across Ukraine. Stories from the night trains, birthday parties, military hospitals and bunkers: stories from the ground, from a writer with a deep sense of empathy, always seeking to understand the bigger picture, the big questions of identity, history, hopes and fears in this war in Europe.
QUOTES:
“an antidote to the cynicism of war” (Quentin Sommerville)
“A luminous love letter to an embattled nation, as it resists the Kremlin’s imperial takeover. Volodymyr Zelenskiy does not appear. Its heroes are regular Ukrainians. Stout writes about them with an extraordinary and heartfelt empathy, as they do their best to live amid bombs and to survive” (Luke Harding, Observer)
“A celebration of Ukraine and a lament for it. This extraordinary book may have been written in compassion and anger, but the note that rings out is love” (Peter Ross)
“Stout has a rare gift for rendering moments in time, and her descriptions of nature, season and landscape are beautifully etched, often hauntingly so.” (Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker)
A Radio 4 Book of the Week.
Best First Book at Scotland’s National Book Awards (Shortlist)