A "taut thriller of high stakes" (Patrick Radden Keefe), a gripping Russian prison memoir

'Propulsive ... A rousing tribute to the beauty and importance of old-fashioned journalism, a taut thriller of high stakes 'hostage diplomacy,' and a poignant meditation on the human struggle between hope and apathy under authoritarian rule' PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE, bestselling author of London Falling

The revelatory, much-anticipated memoir from the Wall Street Journal reporter who was wrongly imprisoned in Putin''s Russia for more than a year - a glimpse inside the perils and contradictions of a country in the midst of autocracy In March 2023, a year after Russia invaded Ukraine, Evan Gershkovich met with a union boss connected with a Russian tank factory. As the journalist sat with his source in an empty restaurant in an industrial city 900 miles east of Moscow, a squad of masked agents charged in, blindfolded Evan, and dragged him into an unmarked van. The agents were from the FSB, Putin''s powerful security service, and the successor to the Soviet-era KGB. Five years earlier, Evan had arrived in Moscow to jumpstart his journalism career. His parents had left the Soviet Union in the 1970s, forging a middle-class life in New Jersey, where Evan grew up on Soviet-era cartoons and weekend trips to Brighton Beach. In Moscow, Evan dove into life - unpacking politics for readers of The Moscow Times and developing a circle of deep friendships with Russian peers, all striving to make their way in perilous times. Western journalists had long felt insulated from the dangers their Russian counterparts experienced. But war, it seemed, had changed the rules. Interrogated for hours after his arrest, Evan was told he was being charged with spying and thrown in Moscow''s notorious Lefortovo prison - a pawn in a geopolitical chess match. After his world suddenly shrunk to a tiny, cement-walled cell, Evan did something remarkable: he continued reporting. For the next sixteen months, he documented a life in Russia that few Westerners will ever experience: its sprawling prison system, with its own vocabulary and customs - and surprising pockets of humanity. In writing by turns riveting and humorous, Evan brings readers inside the events leading to his arrest, his nearly 500 days in Russian prisons, and the blockbuster, multi-country prisoner swap that freed him. More than a prison memoir, This Cursed Beautiful Land is an extraordinary, deeply reported chronicle of a misunderstood people and their land - marked at once by stunning beauty and a haunting history. ...

Autorentext

Evan Gershkovich is a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal based in Berlin. Born in New Jersey to Soviet émigrés, he lived in Russia for over five years before his 2023 arrest and subsequent sixteen-month imprisonment on false espionage charges. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Economistand Foreign Policy, and he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2025 as part of an investigative team for The Journal. He is the recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship.

Klappentext

'Propulsive ... a taut thriller of high stakes' PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE

'Beautiful writing ... a phenomenal book' JON STEWART

'Offers a window onto Russia's wartime soul' ECONOMIST

'A prison memoir that doubles as a love letter, not to the dictatorship that imprisoned him, but to the Russia underneath' ANTHONY DOERR

The revelatory, much-anticipated memoir from the Wall Street Journal reporter who was wrongly imprisoned in Putin's Russia- a glimpse inside the perils and contradictions of a country ruled by autocracy.

In March 2023, a year after Russia invaded Ukraine, Evan Gershkovich, a young reporter for the Wall Street Journal, sat down with a source in an empty restaurant 900 miles east of Moscow. Within moments, a squad of masked FSB agents charged in, blindfolded Evan, and dragged him into an unmarked van. Evan had become the first western journalist since the Cold War arrested by Russia on espionage charges. He became an innocent pawn in a geopolitical chess match played at the very highest levels of global power.

Evan had loved his life in Moscow. Born to Soviet émigré parents who left the USSR in the 1970s, eventually settling in New Jersey, Evan was raised speaking Russian at home and watching Soviet-era cartoons. As a young journalist in Russia, Evan dove into life - unpacking politics for readers of The Moscow Times and developing a circle of deep friendships with Russian peers, all striving to make their way in perilous times. "He reconnected with his Russian heritage and became obsessed with understanding the complexities of Russia's culture and people"?

Then, suddenly, his world shrank to a tiny, cement-walled cell in Lefortovo prison. And there, Evan Gershkovich did something remarkable: he continued reporting. For the next sixteen months, he documented a life in Russia that few Westerners will ever experience: its sprawling prison system, with its own vocabulary, customs and Soviet heritage still alive today. Also, its surprising pockets of humanity. And he did so with the eye of a journalist, the soul of a storyteller.

In writing by turns riveting and humorous, Evan brings readers inside the events leading to his arrest, his nearly 500 days in Russian prisons, and the blockbuster, multi-country prisoner swap that freed him. More than a prison memoir, This Cursed Beautiful Land is also an extraordinary, deeply reported chronicle of a misunderstood people, their land, history and culture.

'I think I hear Solzhenitsyn applauding in his grave' ERIK LARSON

'A chilling, captivating and timely parable: how power is abused, expression chilled and freedom extinguished in our lawless world' PHILIPPE SANDS