Our Daily War

<P><B>Andrey Kurkov’s urgent, humane and unforgettable war diaries continue in a poignant, personal account of life under siege in Ukraine – rich with humanity, dark humour, and unforgettable glimpses of resilience amidst devastation.</B></P><P>‘A vivid, moving and sometimes funny account of the reality of life during Russia''s invasion’ <B>Marc Bennetts, </B><I><B>The Times</B></I><br><br>‘Uplifting and utterly defiant’ <B>Matt Nixson, </B><I><B>Daily Express</B></I><br><br>‘No one with the slightest interest in this war, or the nation on which it is being waged, should fail to read Andrey Kurkov’ <B>Dominic Lawson, </B><I><B>Daily Mail</B></I></P><P><B>____</B></P><P><B>Andrey Kurkov’s war diaries continue: A profound and deeply personal chronicle of life under siege.</B></P><P>In this second volume of his acclaimed war diaries, Ukraine’s greatest living writer bears witness to a nation enduring the unendurable. From his home in Kyiv, Kurkov captures the surreal and the life-shatterin children learning algebra in metro stations turned bomb shelters, holidaymakers sunbathing on mined beaches, and farmers sowing fields shadowed by missile strikes.</P><P>On its eastern borders, Ukrainian citizens are put into “filtration camps”, en route to Russia … or to execution. To the north, Belarusian forces press refugees into service as mine detectors.</P><P>This is a lived account – rich with startling vignettes, dark humour and devastating detail – of a country adapting, resisting, surviving. A child downloads movies to a smartphone to watch during nightly power cuts. An elderly Japanese man feeds the hungry in Kharkiv. A soldier carefully rehomes a swarm of bees. A winemaker uses scrap wooden shell crates to package gift sets. A Ukrainian gunner inscribes messages on shells and rockets aimed for Russia: <I>“For Bakhmut”, </I>he writes. The family of a journalist killed in the Donbas sells their home to open a bookshop in his memory.</P><P><I>Our Daily War</I> is Kurkov at his most intimate and insightful: a record of resilience, heartbreak and fierce national pride. Urgent, humane, unforgettable, this is history as it happens, and as only Kurkov can write it.</P><P>_____</P><P><B>PRAISE FOR ANDREY KURKOV’s WAR DIARIES</B></P><P>‘Clever, passionate’ <B>Roger Boyes, </B><I><B>The Times</B></I></P><P>‘Thoughtfulness nearly always prevails over anger; the pieces are flawlessly structured; the tone is devoid of self-pity’ <B>Robin Ashenden, </B><I><B>Spectator</B></I></P><P>‘Andrey Kurkov [is] one of the most articulate ambassadors to the West for the situation in his homeland’ <B>Sam Leith, </B><I><B>Spectator</B></I><br><br> </P><P>‘Immediate and important. . . An insider''s account of how an ordinary life became extraordinary. It is also about survival, hope and humanity’<B> Helen Davies,</B><I><B> Sunday Times</B></I></P><P><br>‘Packed with surprising details about the human effects of the Russian assault … genial but also impassioned, never more so than when deploring Putin''s efforts to erase Ukrainian culture and history’ <B>Blake Morrison, </B><I><B>Guardian</B></I></P><P><br>‘A thoughtful and humane memoir by one of Ukraine''s most prominent living authors’ <B>Simon Caterson, </B><I><B>Sydney Morning Herald</B></I></P><P><br>‘Kurkov''s diaries … make the early days of the war vivid for the reader. … Here are the kind of stories you don''t see on the television news’ <B>Rachel Cooke, </B><I><B>Observer</B></I></P><P><br>‘It is little wonder … Kurkov, known for his keen eye for the absurdities of life, would pack his diary of the war with fascinating and eccentric details’<B>Megan Gibson, </B><I><B>New Statesman</B></I></P><P><br>‘Kurkov, an internationally-lauded novelist, is strongest when he writes on cultural matters. And this, he demonstrates convincingly, is a cultural war’ <B>Ed O’Loughlin, </B><I><B>Irish Times</B></I></P><P><br>‘With the sort of eye-witness detail missing from even the most rigorous newspaper account, this book makes for essential reading’ <B>Claire Allfree, </B><I><B>Metro</B></I></P>