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Octopus imprint Monoray has acquired The Death of a Soldier Told by his Sister from Olesya Khromeychuk, director of the Ukrainian institute in London, whose brother Volodya died on the frontline in 2017.
Publisher Jake Lingwood bought UK and Commonwealth rights, plus Republic of Ireland but excluding Canada, to the “intimate and thought-provoking” account from Ibidem Verlag, which first published the book in 2021.
It will be released on 1st September, with a foreword by Philippe Sands and an introduction by Death and the Penguin author Andrey Kurkov (Vintage).
The synopsis reads: “Killed in action as he served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Olesya Khromeychuk’s brother Volodya died on the frontline in eastern Ukraine in 2017. As Olesya tries to come to terms with losing her brother, she also tries to process the Russian invasion of Ukraine: as an immigrant living far from the frontline, as a historian of war, and as a woman, a civilian, and a sister.
“In this timely blend of memoir and essay, Olesya tells the story of Volodya – the wiser older sibling, the artist and the soldier – and of his death. Deeply moving and thoughtful, it picks apart the ways political violence shapes everyone and everything it touches and depicts with extraordinary intimacy the singular and complicated bond between a brother and sister. Olesya’s vivid writing is a personal and powerful commitment to honesty in life, in death and in memory."
Lingwood said: “It is so important that we, as publishers, find a way to respond to the invasion of Ukraine. Olesya is a very special writer and she has written something remarkable here, inspired by her grief and love for her brother and for her country – achieving things on the page that the nightly news reports cannot match. We are so proud to publish what I feel is a classic in the making.”
Khromeychuk added: “Wars happen to us; they turn our lives upside down and change us for good. They make us re-evaluate life and death. They make us experience crushing hatred and overwhelming love. With this book, I invite the reader to witness my experience of war, to journey with me from London to Lviv, from peace to a warzone, and to discover why Russia’s war in Ukraine is closer to home than we might think.”