Both a celebration and a lament for Ukraine, a moving personal memoir taking us from Katya's idyllic childhood with her siblings: holidays in Crimea and carefree days working the land at the dacha; to the sickening impact of Putin's invasion and its effect on Katya, her friends and family – the anxiety, fear and heartache. The desperate attempts to make contact with friends and ensure loved ones are safe. Throughout it all bestrides Babushka, Katya's 'favourite person on earth' still living in the family's apartment block in Kyiv. Babushka learned fortitude at an early age when her own mother was taken by the Germans and she was rescued by a Jewish doctor whose identity was kept secret. When she is not growing vegetables and making vats of borsch, she is reading the sexy bits from novels out loud to her granddaughter. But in this last year she has turned her hand to a recipe of a different type – Molotov cocktails – in preparation for an attack on her apartment block. Combining prose, poetry, collage, maps and illustrations this is a truly immersive memoir – an authentic portrait of the impact of war.
Paperback