Never Say War

Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction

"Superlative ... a book of unusual power" — The Times

"A totally unprecedented, behind the scenes portrait of Putin's Russia at war. Astonishing" — Antony Beevor

"A daring on-the-ground work of reportage with a distinctly human feel" — Financial Times

"Hypnotically good. Seierstad has imparted a sense of the Russians in a way I have not experienced before" — Jon Lee Anderson

The prize-winning new book from the bestselling author of The Bookseller of Kabul

Putin's Russia silences its citizens, targets foreign journalists and invaded a neighbouring country — while declaring it illegal to say the country is at war. This is what we know from the outside: but what does it feel like on the inside? The way into this question, for bestselling author and journalist Åsne Seierstad, was young Russian soldier Andrey Medvedev, who defected from the infamous Wagner Group and sought asylum in Norway in January 2023. He was three years old when Putin rose to power and his life story mirrors the transformation of his country. And as Seierstad dug deeper into his family and connections, more and more of Russian society opened up to her, from teachers and farmers to reporters and women left behind by soldiers at war.

Drawing upon Seierstad's deep knowledge of Russia and her unparalleled access to the country, Never Say War paints an intimate yet epic portrait of a much-mythologized and little-understood country. With Seierstad's characteristic eye for narrative and detail, she takes us behind closed doors and illuminates the lives of individuals, helping us think about vital questions: how did present-day Russia come to be? And how are some Russians looking to change the future of their country?

"The vivid depiction of wartime life in the heart of Russia lingers after reading this fascinating book" — Irish Times

"An exquisite work of on-the-ground reportage conjuring all the violence, injustice and contradiction of wartime Russia. Novelistic-in-scope, insightful and humane" — Howard Amos, author of Russia Starts Here: Real Lives in the Ruin of Empire

"What kind of man enlists to fight in Ukraine? A Russian soldier who runs from Wagner to seek asylum in Norway tells his heart-wrenching story to Åsne Seierstad. A necessary read" — Jana Bakunina, author of The Good Russian: In Search of a Nation's Soul

Winner of the Brage Prize, the Norwegian Booksellers' Prize, and the Norwegian Critics' Prize