Welcome to Litsy!

An ABA "Indie Next List" pick for November 2021. "A debut that is as thoughtful as it is explosive." �BuzzFeed "Innovative, emotionally resonant, and deeply affecting." �Kirkus, Starred "It�s a stunner." �Publishers Weekly, Starred In 1913, a Russian ballet incited a riot in Paris at the new Th��tre de Champs-Elys�es. �Only a Russian could do that," says Aleksandr Ivanovich. �Only a Russian could make the whole world go mad.� A century later, in November 2013, thousands of Ukrainian citizens gathered at Independence Square in Kyiv to protest then-President Yanukovych�s failure to sign a referendum with the European Union, opting instead to forge a closer alliance with President Vladimir Putin and Russia. The peaceful protests turned violent when military police shot live ammunition into the crowd, killing over a hundred civilians. I Will Die in a Foreign Land follows four individuals over the course of a volatile Ukrainian winter, as their lives are forever changed by the Euromaidan protests. Katya is an Ukrainian-American doctor stationed at a makeshift medical clinic in St. Michael�s Monastery; Misha is an engineer originally from Pripyat, who has lived in Kyiv since his wife�s death; Slava is a fiery young activist whose past hardships steel her determination in the face of persecution; and Aleksandr Ivanovich, a former KGB agent, who climbs atop a burned-out police bus at Independence Square and plays the piano. As Katya, Misha, Slava, and Aleksandr�s lives become intertwined, they each seek their own solace during an especially tumultuous and violent period. The story is also told by a chorus of voices that incorporates folklore and narrates a turbulent Slavic history. While unfolding an especially moving story of quiet beauty and love in a time of terror, I Will Die in a Foreign Land is an ambitious, intimate, and haunting portrait of human perseverance and empathy.