Never Say War
On sale
20th August 2026
Price: £30
‘A totally unprecedented, behind the scenes portrait of Putin’s Russia at war. Astonishing. A major work’ ANTONY BEEVOR
‘Hypnotically good. Seierstad has imparted a sense of the Russians, in this “at war under Putin’s thumb” era 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?
***Winner of the Brage Prize, the Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize, and the Norwegian Critics’ Prize***
‘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
‘Hypnotically good. Seierstad has imparted a sense of the Russians, in this “at war under Putin’s thumb” era 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?
***Winner of the Brage Prize, the Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize, and the Norwegian Critics’ Prize***
‘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
Reviews
A totally unprecedented, behind the scenes portrait of Putin's Russia at war. Her intrepid travels and interviews lift the curtain on the lives and thoughts of all sorts of Russians. It is astonishing. A major work
An exquisite work of on-the-ground reportage conjuring all the violence, injustice and contradiction of wartime Russia. Seierstad's steadfast empathy and personal warmth give her a direct line to the motivations of everyone from blood-soaked mercenaries to Putin's most implacable critics. Novelistic-in-scope, insightful and humane
I really loved Never Say War. I found it hypnotically good, in fact. She has imparted a sense of the Russians, in this "at war under Putin's thumb" era in a way I have not experienced before. Once again, Åsne Seierstad has outdone herself with a book that reveals some of the deep and troubling truths about our time. In her telling, Putin's Russians emerge as a unique people, bighearted, black-humored and self reliant, but nurtured by a tragic sense of their own history. Governed by a ruler without compassion and in the absence if any rule of law, they are condemned to faceless conformity or else, for those heroically doomed exceptions, recklessly romantic lives of sacrifice and oppression
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. Her book takes readers on a journey to St. Petersburg, Moscow and Siberia tracing Russia's war with Ukraine. A happy read it is not but a necessary one