Overview

When Joe Luc Barnes arrived in Moscow in 2014 as an English ‘governor’ to a six-year-old oligarch’s son, he expected Tolstoy-style dachas and polite tea. Instead, he found flashing blue lights, Champagne Sundays and an 85% approval rating for Vladimir Putin. Eight years, 60,000 miles and one full-scale invasion later, Barnes set out to discover how every former Soviet republic – from war-scarred Ukraine to tech-hungry Estonia, oil-rich Kazakhstan to the torch-lit streets of Armenia – has fared since the red flag fell in 1991. How have the fifteen countries navigated their first thirty-five years of independence?  Travelling by rattling platzkart train, hitch-hiking and riding in the exclusively white cars mandated by the dentist dictator in Turkmenistan, he gathers a chorus of voices: taxi-drivers nursing small-town resentments, ex-gulag guards, TikTok-fuelled activists, queers on the run from police raids and billion-dollar oligarchs who still swear by Stalin. Barnes is in Moscow when Putin invades Ukraine and ends his journey in war-torn Kiev. The result is a deeply human, darkly comic portrait of a region the West still misunderstands – and a warning of what happens when empires break but the habits of empire refuse to die.  By turns hilarious, angry and heart-stopping, this is an indispensable political travelogue. If you loved The Silk Roads, Nothing to Envy or The Places in Between, and have a soft spot for Bill Bryson, clear space on your shelf: this is the book for you.

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9781783969401

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Reviews

‘Brilliantly introduces us to faraway countries about which we should know more’ Tim Marshall, author of Prisoners of Geography   'A sparklingly erudite and entertaining odyssey through the shock-waves of the USSR's demise, this book does what good travel writing should: make the world feel more diverse and more wonderful.' Nick Hunt, author of Outlandish: Walking Europe's Unlikely Landscapes   'Barnes has absorbed the dark sense of humour that is part of the legacy of empire, and has a keen eye for the other common features that the USSR has left behind.' Lewis Baston, author of Borderlines: A History of Europe in 29 Borders   'This book is a thought-provoking journey through the lands once ruled by Russia, by an author with an empathetic manner and a sharp eye for the absurd. Barnes teases out the complexities of these diverse countries, stretching from the eastern fringes of Europe to Central Asia’s borders with China, as they navigate their way to nationhood.' Joanna Lillis, author of Silk Mirage: Through the Looking Glass in Uzbekistan   'Insightful ... [Barnes] gives space for local voices and opinions, and sacrifices his liver to all sorts of tipples in the process.' Chris Aslan, author of Unravelling the Silk Road

Author Information

Joe Luc Barnes spent six years living in former Soviet countries from 2014, has a Master’s in Russian and East European Studies from the University of Oxford and now reports from the region as a journalist in English, Russian and Spanish language media. He has contributed to numerous English language media, including The Financial Times; Nikkei; The Diplomat; and The Times of Central Asia. This includes reporting over the past year from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. He has visited all fifteen former USSR republics since the war in Ukraine began in February 2022. He lives in London.

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