«'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 ... yet what makes Kurkov's diary memorable is its departures into the more quotidian gossip-filled trips to the sauna, Ukraine's morale-boosting victory in the Eurovision Song Contest, ruminations on the status of Ukrainian literature amid paper shortages, and ploys to protect animals in the country's shuttered zoos'»

Megan Gibson, New Statesman

«'Uplifting and utterly defiant'»

Matt Nixson, Daily Express

«'Immediate and important ... This is an insider's account of how an ordinary life became extraordinary'»

Helen Davies, Times

«'The author's on-the-ground account is packed with surprising details about the human effects of the Russian assault ... His voice is genial but also impassioned, never more so than when deploring Putin's efforts to erase Ukrainian culture and history. Ukraine, he says, "will either be free, independent and European, or it will not exist at all". That's why the war has to be fought, with no concession of territory. And he remains quietly hopeful that it will be won'»

Blake Morrison, Guardian

«'Ukraine's greatest living novelist'»

Charlie Connelly, New European Books of the Year

«'No one with the slightest interest in this war, or the nation on which it is being waged, should fail to read Andrey Kurkov'»

Dominic Lawson, Daily Mail

«'A vivid, moving and sometimes funny account of the reality of life during Russia's invasion'»

Marc Bennetts, The Times