Russia Starts Here: Real Lives in the Ruins of Empire

'A different level of insight to anything I've read for a long time about Russia.' - Sophy Roberts, author of The Lost Pianos of Siberia

'Exquisitely observed.. Full of empathy, Amos refuses easy stereotypes.' - Tom Parfitt, author of High Caucasus

'Truly kaleidoscopic and unique in its reach, this is a superbly written and unusual book' - Caroline Eden, author of Cold Kitchen

Returning to an overlooked region on the edge of Russia, Howard Amos sets out on a quest to understand the country he once called home.

On Russia's European borderlands, people live their lives among the ruins of successive empires. Pskov, an old Slavic land of forgotten stories and faded waysides, has weathered the tides of history. Once a thriving nexus of trade and cultural exchange, today it is one of the poorest and most rapidly depopulating places of this vast nation. To understand the darkness that has captured Russia, Howard Amos journeys through a landscape of small towns, re-wilding fields and dilapidated churches.

This is a lyrical portrait of Russia where it meets NATO and the EU – a place of frontiers and boundaries that reveals unfamiliar and uncomfortable truths. In a country where history has been erased, manipulated and marginalised, the voices Howard Amos spotlights are a powerful antidote against forgetting.

From the last inhabitants of a dying village to the long-term residents of a psychiatric hospital and a museum curator fighting local opposition to chronicle Pskov's forgotten Jewish heritage, Howard Amos uncovers compelling stories that are shaped by violence, tragedy and loss. He also encounters some of the powerful men who have loomed over Pskov leaving a troubling legacy in their wake, from far-right politicians to Putin's personal priest.