A TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR When everyday life becomes a state of emergency how can
yesterday's words suffice? 'We were so happy and didn't know it...' A
thirty-three-year-old writer lives in a quiet European suburb with his wife and his dog. His
parents have bought an apartment nearby. On weekends they go out for brunch cook and see
friends. Life is good it is normal. Then the invaders come. The Language of War is about
what happens when your world changes overnight. When you wake up to the sound of helicopters
and the smell of gunpowder. When your home is hit by shells or broken into by gunmen and you
spend another night in a basement-turned-bomb shelter. When even though you've never held a
weapon before you realise the only choice is to fight back. It is about things one can never
forget or forgive. Bringing together Oleksandr Mykhed's vivid day-by-day chronicles of the
invasion of Ukraine with a chorus of other voices - his family friends in exile those who
have fought and have witnessed unimaginable atrocities - this book is both a record and a
reckoning. Haunting and timeless it asks how it is possible to find the words to describe a
new reality how you can still make sense of the world when the only language you can speak is
the language of war.
