Ukrainian writer and military serviceman Artem Chekhs book was the winner of the 2021 BBC News Ukraine Book of the Year Award and is a gritty and bald bildungsroman, a lilting picaresque of a life lived in the shadow of someone elses war.

When Tymofiy is five years old, his small family in Cherkasy, Ukraine grows by one. Not with the birth of a baby sister or brother, but with the appearance of Felixmentor and tormentor, enemy and friendTymofiys grandmothers sometime-boyfriend. Who are you? Felix screams in the depths of a confused and drunken rage at all who cross his path, his memories of the Soviet-Afghan war clouding his eyes and senses. Who are you? Tymofiy asks himself as he drifts through the streets of his hometown, searching for love and protection, for a better, happier way of life.

A gritty, realist depiction of Ukraine and the post Soviet world, this book offers an affecting yet honest look into the life of someone suffering from PTSD. It is a story of growing up without much hope for a better future, and yet intense moments of connection and kindness persist. Just when things begin to seem insurmountably dark, a friendship begins, a kind word is said, or a hand reaches out and opens the curtains, letting in a little light.

Paperback | 256 pages | 5.50″ x 8.25″