Guardian Faber to publish Luke Harding's 'breathtaking' chronicle of war
By Faber Editor, 25 August 2022
Guardian Faber acquire the ‘breathtaking’ chronicle of the war that changed everything, Invasion: Russia’s Bloody War and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival from award-winning journalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author Luke Harding.
Faber’s Associate Publisher Laura Hassan acquired UK & Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada), including audio, from Susanna Lea at Susanna Lea Associates. Invasion will be published in hardback on 24 November 2022.
A breathtaking work of reportage, Harding spent months reporting on the ground during the build up to the conflict and afterwards. His book tells of the initial days of shock and panic, the grim reality of this ongoing war, and the unheard human stories behind the headlines. It is a panoramic account which describes the horrors of Mariupol and Bucha; Russia’s brutal occupation in the south; the battle for the Donbas; and Ukraine’s heroic refusal to submit. Invasion offers insightful portraits of the the war’s two great personalities. One, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is an actor turned president who rallied support on a global stage. The other, Vladimir Putin, is a dictator who dwells in a strange and unreachable realm. Harding examines the ideological, religious and personal reasons behind Putin’s decision to invade. And he confronts a crucial question: which side will prevail in this terrible war?
Hassan said:
‘This will be the first book to be published from the thunderous frontline of Europe’s biggest conflict since 1945. Luke warned correctly about Putin’s dark and adventurist ambitions in his previous best-selling titles, Collusion and Shadow State. Invasion is essential reading for anyone interested in Ukraine and the fate of its citizens. He tells the story of a world upended with verve, sensitivity and expertise. This is history written in real time, by one of the world’s best reporters.’
Harding said:
‘When Putin sent troops in 2021 to threaten Ukraine I was convinced an invasion was coming. My thesis: the Putin regime was repressive at home and dangerous abroad. I visited Mariupol, the Donetsk frontline and was in Kyiv during the early hours of February 24 2022 when Moscow’s bombs started falling. My book describes how the war has transformed international politics, made Zelenskiy a world star, and has taken Russia back to the dark Stalin era. First and foremost it is about those swept up in the most pitiless conflict of modern times. I tell the personal stories of Ukrainians fighting for survival – soldiers, mothers, refugees. Here are the thumps and whistles of battle and life and death on the frontline.’
Author royalties from this edition will go to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Fund.
LUKE HARDING is an award-winning foreign correspondent with the Guardian. He has reported from Delhi, Berlin and Moscow and has covered wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Between 2007 and 2011 he was the Guardian‘s Moscow bureau chief. The Kremlin expelled him from the country in the first case of its kind since the cold war and in June 2022 put him on an international blacklist. He is the author of Shadow State, Collusion, A Very Expensive Poison, The Snowden Files, and Mafia State, as well as the co-author of WikiLeaks and The Liar (nominated for the Orwell Prize). Two of Harding’s books have been made into films: The Fifth Estate and Snowden, and a critically acclaimed stage version of A Very Expensive Poison premiered at the Old Vic theatre in London in 2019, written by Lucy Prebble.
The first book of reportage from the front line of the Ukraine war. This is a powerful and moving first draft of history written by the award-winning Guardian journalist and #1 New York Times selling author of Collusion and Shadow State who forecast Putin’s dark adventurist ambitions.