A cultural portrait of eastern Ukraine, and an urgent, essential read.
Since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine in 2014, its eastern region – Donbas – has been synonymous with conflict. With the escalation of that war in 2022, its cities such as Bakhmut and Lysychansk have become familiar to us through the images and reports of brutal devastation. Victoria Donovan excavates a rich, multicultural history of this area, and paints a radically different picture.
Travelling from the dramatic, jagged peaks of Bilokuzmynivka to the marshland of Mariupol, from a warehouse rave to an abandoned gypsum mine, the physical world and its importance to this region’s identity is brought to vivid life. But above all else, by speaking to those whose lives are embedded there now – curators, artists, railway workers, young people who have grown up amidst instability and destruction – Donovan amplifies local voices and reveals the intensely personal lived reality of Putin’s war.
Revelatory, evocative and deeply humane, Life In Spite of Everything is a celebration of a country’s past and present, and its people’s tenacity, creativity and independence.
‘Hauntingly personal yet rigorously researched . . . [Donovan] avoids didactism, yet is always compassionate and compelling.’ Serhy Yekelchyk, Times Literary Supplement
‘War is not central to this work. It is a story of people and nature, filled with sweet and bitter memories, empathy and hope.’ Observer
‘A sad and angry history.’ Irish Times
‘Shines a spotlight on a part of the world most of us know only from scenes of death and destruction on the television news.’ Sunday Times
‘This land and life are so beautifully remembered! . . . An emotional and very engaging requiem for Eastern Ukraine.’ Andrey Kurkov
‘Victoria Donovan writes . . . with love, knowledge, and care. Written about humans for humans, this book exposes the inhumanity of imperial ambitions and colonial wars like no other work on the subject.’ Serhii Plokhy
‘Interlacing histories and stories, meticulous research and the power of witnessing, Life in Spite of Everything enriches our understanding of the past of Ukraine’s east. One day, it will help us reimagine its future.’ Sasha Dovzhyk
‘An invaluable document and an urgent plea – a love letter to a place and a community worth protecting at all costs.’ Boris Dralyuk
‘Brings the reader to haunting and haunted landscapes, while spotlighting the people who work with great care to keep memory and history very much alive . . . Masterful.’ Kate Brown
‘It is a rare book that makes me, a Ukrainian, both laugh and cry, and learn something new about my own country along the way. Written in a humane and deeply empathetic way, Life in Spite of Everything demonstrates exquisite style and humanity.’ Viktoriia Grivina
‘Well-researched, deeply personal, and masterfully narrated . . . A must-read.’ Volodymyr Kulikov
‘It’s an extraordinary journey, down into the coal seams, the glittering salt caves, through a landscape of such heady beauty and rich ecology – andwith a guide whose love for the Ukrainian East is evident at every step, as is her sorrow at its destruction . . . a rare achievement. Life in Spite of Everything is a lyrical call to action, a call to overturn stereotypes – essential reading.’ Jen Stout
‘A hauntingly beautiful and personal journey into a land dehumanised by geopolitics. A must-read for anyone seeking to understand the soul of the Donbas beyond the headlines.’ Jade McGlynn
‘Victoria Donovan evokes the wildlife and human life in this fertile, enigmatic landscape [and] a sense of the uncanny magic beneath the region’s gritty chaos.’ Amelia Glaser
‘A book that enables us to understand that Ukraine’s occupied territories are not an abstraction but real places where real people have been deprived of their freedom, livelihoods and sometimes lives.’ Timothy Garton Ash
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