When Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the writer Jana Bakunina, who has lived in the UK for 20 years, felt furious, ashamed, but most of all helpless. A year later she travelled to her home city of Yekaterinburg to see how ordinary Russians viewed the conflict - and whether the soul of her nation had truly been crushed.Jana finds a booming city seemingly untouched by war. Reconnecting with old friends, she discovers people either happy to go along with a regime that has brought them stability, or else staying out of politics. Most painful of all, her once liberal father has channelled his personal disappointments into becoming a firm fan of Putin.In the grand humane tradition of Russian dissident writers, Jana Bakunina asks what happens when a country you love becomes infected by nationalism. And whether Russians can still imagine a liberated future?'A powerful and deeply personal exploration of what it means to be Russian today'Sarah Rainsford, author of Goodbye to Russia
