Description

* 2022 Young Lions Fiction Award, Winner.
* A BookBrowse 20 Best Books of 2022
* VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, Longlist.
* An ABA Indie Next List pick for November 2021.
* A Best Book of 2021 –New York Public Library, Cosmopolitan, Independent Book Review
* October 2021 Must-Reads –Debutiful, The Chicago Review of Books, The MillionsIn 1913, a Russian ballet incited a riot in Paris at the new Théâtre de Champs-Elysées. Only a Russian could do that, says Aleksandr Ivanovich. Only a Russian could make the whole world go mad. A century later, in November 2013, thousands of Ukrainian citizens gathered at Independence Square in Kyiv to protest then-President Yanukovych s failure to sign a referendum with the European Union, opting instead to forge a closer alliance with President Vladimir Putin and Russia. The peaceful protests turned violent when military police shot live ammunition into the crowd, killing over a hundred civilians.I Will Die in a Foreign Land follows four individuals over the course of a volatile Ukrainian winter, as their lives are forever changed by the Euromaidan protests. Katya is an Ukrainian-American doctor stationed at a makeshift medical clinic in St. Michael s Monastery; Misha is an engineer originally from Pripyat, who has lived in Kyiv since his wife s death; Slava is a fiery young activist whose past hardships steel her determination in the face of persecution; and Aleksandr Ivanovich, a former KGB agent, who climbs atop a burned-out police bus at Independence Square and plays the piano.As Katya, Misha, Slava, and Aleksandr s lives become intertwined, they each seek their own solace during an especially tumultuous and violent period. The story is also told by a chorus of voices that incorporates folklore and narrates a turbulent Slavic history.While unfolding an especially moving story of quiet beauty and love in a time of terror, I Will Die in a Foreign Land is an ambitious, intimate, and haunting portrait of human perseverance and empathy. Kalani Pickhart s timely debut novel, I Will Die In a Foreign Land, is about the 2014 Ukrainian revolution which provided a pretense for Russia to annex Crimea. The story follows the experiences of several characters whose lives intersect as the country s political situation deteriorates. There s a Ukrainian-American doctor, an old KGB spy, a former mine worker, and others, and these episodes are interspersed with folk songs, news reports and historical notes. The effect–kaleidoscopic but never confusing–provides an intimate sense of a country convulsing, mourning, and somehow surviving.
–CBS News, The Book Report: Recommendations from Washington Post critic Ron Charles
(Watch the full video on CBS News, February 6, 2022).