Blogs in April 2020

The Ratline 19th April 2020

As Governor of Galicia, SS Brigadeführer Otto Freiherr von Wächter presided over an authority on whose territory hundreds of thousands of Jews and Poles were killed, including the family of the author’s grandfather. By the time the war ended...

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Bayan 17th April 2020

Bayan, the title, is Russian for the accordion, since the story is based on a hauntingly beautiful narration of the transition of life from the Soviet through the post-Soviet era in Ukraine. The main character, Ivan Nikolaevich, is a...

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Wolves Eat Dogs 3rd April 2020

Chernobyl: the Zone of Exclusion. A ghostly place, deserted and forgotten for almost two decades; now inhabited by militia, shady scavengers, a few reckless scientists, and some elderly Ukrainian peasants . . . This is the eerie and dangerous...

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Snegurochka 19th March 2019

An exhilarating, darkly atmospheric debut novel set in Kiev. ‘An unforgettable story. The claustrophobia is palpable, and the characters are utterly convincing in this beautifully observed novel. Outstanding.’ —Claire Fuller ‘Something terrible is happening here. Something terrible has already...

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The House with the Stained-Glass Window 2nd January 2019

In 1989, Marianna, the beautiful star soprano at the Lviv opera, is shot dead in the street as she leads the Ukrainian citizens in their protest against Soviet power. Only eleven years old at the time, her daughter tells...

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