Ukraine 22

I am extremely grateful this collection found its way to me. I read it compulsively over two sittings while my decidedly war-free calendar called me back to it with its seductions (delusions) of normality. The extraordinary writers in this volume articulate the taste, the terror, and the dialect of war; they command their powers of description to face a shameless empire intent on annihilating them. You won't find patriotic sentimentality here, but an exquisite unity of life and word against a barbaric invasion that is already shaping Europe's future. Ukraine 22 is a remarkable and significant collection which ought to be read widely -- Ellena Savage This book thrums with the voices of everyday Ukrainians trying to live while the spectre of war looms blackly above them. Filled with heart-wrenching minute details, this book demands its readers consider a baby making air raid siren noises instead of speaking its first words, the quiet defiance in buying cinnamon buns during a war, and how do you choose which books to leave behind? As the country dances its “deadly tango”, Ukrainian writers offer us a slice of insight into what life is like when normal is destroyed -- Hanan Issa