Mudlark wins 'astonishing' book on Ukraine conflict by Matthews

Veteran Moscow correspondent and historian Owen Matthews’ “astonishing” book on the Ukraine conflict has been picked up by Mudlark.  

Joel Simons, publishing director, acquired world all-language rights to Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin’s War Against Ukraine from Diane Banks and Martin Redfern at Northbank Talent Management. It will publish on 27th October.  

Matthews is a fluent Russian speaker who has lived and worked in Moscow for more than 25 years. In Overreach he draws on his network of contacts to deliver unique insights into Vladimir Putin’s administration, security services, armed forces and propaganda machine. 

It includes testimonies of captured Russian conscripts, Ukrainian civilians who escaped from occupation, and the last journalists in besieged Mariupol, as well as interviews with men who launched Putin’s career and others who have worked with him for years. 

Matthews said: “This book focuses on the most compelling mystery at the heart of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine—how did the idea of violently carving out a Greater Russia, backed up by mystical Orthodox nationalism, travel from the marginal fringes of Russian politics to becoming official Kremlin policy? How and why did Putin decide to throw decades of carefully constructed macroeconomics and diplomacy out of the window and launch a war so reckless and risky that the details were kept even from most of his most senior ministers right up until the very moment of the invasion? Who were the dogs fighting under the carpet—as Churchill memorably once described Kremlin infighting—who battled for Putin’s ear, heart and mind? The story of the war cannot be told in full until it’s over. But Overreach is the story of how the war began. I’m delighted to be working with Joel Simons and the world-class HarperCollins team to produce this first draft of history.” 

Simons added: “This is an astonishing work of real-time reporting that explores the multiple and complex facets of this devastating conflict. Owen Matthews is one of the best-connected correspondents still operating in Moscow and I’m so excited to be working with him and his wider team on publishing what I hope will become a definitive account of the war in Ukraine.”