When this book was written it was the story of one death among many in the war in Eastern
Ukraine. After February 24 2022 it took on a new dimension - now it is not only a personal
story but the story of a country under severe attack. The premonitions about Putin's
intentions that moved the author's brother to join the Ukrainian armed forces and defend his
country have now come to pass in the most horrific way.Olesya Khromeychuk tells the story of
her brother Volodymyr Pavliv who was killed on the front line in 2017 taking the point of
view of a civilian and a woman - perspectives that tend to be neglected in war accounts - and
focusing on the stories that take place far away from the war zone. Through a combination of
personal memoir and essay Olesya Khromeychuk brings her readers closer to the events of this
brutal war in the heart of Europe and to the private experience of war itself. This book speaks
to anyone struggling with grief and the shock of the sudden loss of a loved one.This new
edition was updated after Russia started the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 by
Monoray with new chapters and a new Foreword by Philippe Sands. Praise for the first
edition:[A] moving and elegantly written account A Loss reflects on an older brother whom she
got to know better after he died than before.Julian Evans TLSIn A Loss Khromeychuk shows that
the experience of grief transcends individual circumstance and in fact unites us. In doing so
she connects readers to the collective grief that most Ukrainians are unconsciously carrying. I
hope that when the book is published in Ukraine it will help people there to work through the
pain and trauma of the last seven years.Isobel Koshiw Los Angeles Review of BooksGrappling. I
admire a book that invites me to grapple with knotty questions. Olesya Khromeychuk has written
such a book-beautifully. Feminism and drones. Funerals and theater. Shrapnel and combat
boots-size 8. 'A Loss' explores the lures of militarism at a granular level.Professor Cynthia
Enloe author of Nimo's War Emma's War: Making Feminist Sense of the Iraq WarMoving
intelligent and brilliantly written this is a sister's reckoning with a lost brother an
émigré's with the country of her childhood and a scholar's with her own suddenly acutely
personal subject matter. A wonderful combination of emotional and intellectual honesty very
sad and direct but also rigorous and nuanced. It even manages to be funny.Anna Reid author of
Borderland: A Journey Through the History of UkraineThere has always been too much silence
around the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine-Europe's forgotten war. Olesya Khromeychuk refuses
to bend to this silence. In vivid intimate prose and with unflinching honesty she introduces
us to the brother she lost in the war and found in her grief. Poignant wise and
unforgettable.Dr Rory Finnin Associate Professor in Ukrainian Studies at the University of
Cambridge
