Kalani Pickhart

Powerful debut ... an impressive feat of empathy ... a rich, multilayered story [that] will resonate with a wide range of readers, and provide illuminating insight for those hoping to learn more about the current conflict.

Pickhart's story is powerful, boldly imaginative, rich in history and feeling, charged with events that have occurred since it was written - and which summon up the same force of the history that compelled an American author to write about this "foreign land".

An innovative and compelling debut... I Will Die in a Foreign Land is an illuminating and worthwhile read.

This bighearted novel generously portrays the unforgettable set of characters through their determination to face oppression. It's a stunner.

Simply breathtaking in its scope. Pickhart's storytelling is flawless with nothing gratuitous or superfluous. She has taken a large, complex subject and rendered it both tragic and tender by reminding the reader that in the end, the individual life touched by conflict is what really matters.

In many ways, the book feels like an ode to the everyman of Ukraine. With a deft hand, it celebrates those who strive to heal when the world around them feels broken, and the bravery required to love against the odds.

An unforgettable reading experience and a critical lesson in ongoing global history.

A debut that is as thoughtful as it is explosive.

Rooted in historical events, the novel follows four unforgettable characters finding their way amidst the violence and turmoil, striving to live and not just survive. So gorgeous and oh so very timely.

A fully immersive experience that's perfect for a winter read.

Cosmopolitan, Best Historical Fiction Novels of the year

The sort of ambitious debut novel that makes you sit up and take notice... announces an exciting new voice in fiction.

Pickhart's characters are rich and real, flawed and scared, brave and noble. They betray and they are betrayed, sexually and politically and in every other way... By telling stories of those who live in history but refuse to fully succumb to it, Pickhart recuperates the humanity of the people of Ukraine and celebrates their lives as human beings, not as footnotes to someone else's history.

Since 1991, Ukraine has experienced three revolutions, and Pickhart elegantly captures how these events build up inside a person, giving many Ukrainians an acute awareness of the self as both agent and consequence of history.

Sonya Bilocerkowycz, author of On Our Way Home from the Revolution

Innovative, emotionally resonant, and deeply affecting, this is a more-than-promising debut from a very talented writer.

Winner of the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award 
Best Book of the Year - New York Public Library, Cosmopolitan, Independent Book Review 
 
'Pickhart's story is powerful, boldly imaginative, rich in history and feeling, charged with events that have occurred since it was written - and which summon up the same force of the history that compelled an American author to write about this "foreign land".' The Times 
 
2014 Kyiv, Ukraine. The city is poised on a knife-edge as tensions mount around a corrupt government's increasing ties to Russia. As protests erupt across the city, the fates of four individuals come together. Katya is a Ukrainian-American doctor stationed at a makeshift medical clinic treating wounded protesters; Misha is an engineer originally from Pripyat, near Chernobyl, grieving the death of his wife; Slava is a fiery young activist whose past hardships steel her determination; Aleksandr Ivanovich, a former KGB agent, climbs atop a burned-out bus at Independence Square and plays the piano. 
 
In this dazzling, inventive debut novel - set during the 'Revolution of Dignity' - Kalani Pickhart weaves together a rich tapestry of voices to create a moving story about beauty, love and survival during tumultuous times.

Kalani Pickhart

Praise for I Will Die in a Foreign Land

Powerful debut ... an impressive feat of empathy ... a rich, multilayered story [that] will resonate with a wide range of readers, and provide illuminating insight for those hoping to learn more about the cur ...

Pickhart's story is powerful, boldly imaginative, rich in history and feeling, charged with events that have occurred since it was written - and which summon up the same force of the history that compelled an ...

An innovative and compelling debut... I Will Die in a Foreign Land is an illuminating and worthwhile read.

Powerful debut ... an impressive feat of empathy ... a rich, multilayered story [that] will resonate with a wide range of readers, and provide illuminating insight for those hoping to learn more about the cur ...

Pickhart's story is powerful, boldly imaginative, rich in history and feeling, charged with events that have occurred since it was written - and which summon up the same force of the history that compelled an ...

An innovative and compelling debut... I Will Die in a Foreign Land is an illuminating and worthwhile read.

Powerful debut ... an impressive feat of empathy ... a rich, multilayered story [that] will resonate with a wide range of readers, and provide illuminating insight for those hoping to learn more about the cur ...

Pickhart's story is powerful, boldly imaginative, rich in history and feeling, charged with events that have occurred since it was written - and which summon up the same force of the history that compelled an ...

An innovative and compelling debut... I Will Die in a Foreign Land is an illuminating and worthwhile read.

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