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The five former Soviet Republics Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan all became independent when the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991. How have these countries developed since then? In the Kyrgyzstani villages Erika Fatland meets victims of the widely known tradition of bride snatching; she visits the huge and desolate Polygon in Kazakhstan where the Soviet Union tested explosions of nuclear bombs; she meets Chinese shrimp gatherers on the banks of the dried out Aral Sea and she witnesses the fall of a dictator.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eShe travels incognito through Turkmenistan, a country that is closed to journalists. She meets exhausted human rights activists in Kazakhstan, survivors from the massacre in Osh in 2010, and German Mennonites that found paradise on the Kyrgyzstani plains 200 years ago. 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A travel memoir that captivates and delights. Fabulous\" - Nina Stibbe\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eA young Englishwoman arrives in 1990s St Petersburg, expecting language drills and fairytales, but instead she plunges into smoky dive bars, clandestine punk gigs, and a heady romance with a Ukrainian rocker promising, “survive this Russian winter and I’ll give you one Ukrainian summer.” A witty and moving coming-of-age memoir at the end of an era.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAutumn 1993. The former USSR. Viv is about to turn 21 and is on a study year abroad, supposedly immersed in the language, history and politics of a world that has just ceased to exist: the Soviet Union.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInstead, she finds herself immersed in Bogdan Bogdanovich - the lead guitarist of a Ukrainian punk rock band. 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In \"Cold Kitchen\", Caroline Eden draws on Central Asia, Turkey, Ukraine, the South Caucasus, Russia, the Baltics, and Poland, exploring how cooking, travel, friends, and vivid memory intertwine to shape her life, writing, and imagination.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA welcoming refuge with its tempting pantry, shelves of books and inquisitive dog, Caroline Eden finds comfort away from the road in her basement Edinburgh kitchen. Join her as she cooks recipes from her travels, reflects on past adventures and contemplates the kitchen's unique ability to tell human stories. 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