Three Ukrainian Books Included in The Telegraph's Best Books of the Year List

Ukrainian books The Language of War by Oleksandr Mykhed, Chernobyl Roulette by historian Serhiy Plokhiy, and The Ukraine by Artem Chapeye were included in the ranking of the 50 best publications of 2024 according to the British edition of The Telegraph.

12th place. ‘The Language of War’ by writer and literary critic Oleksandr Mykhed is an English-language version of the non-fiction publication “Call Sign for Job: Chronicles of the Invasion”. In the book, the author tells his own stories about the beginning of the invasion, as well as collects stories from his family and friends.

The story covers the first 13 months of the full-scale war and was published by VSL Publishing House.

‘Ukrainians, like Job in the Old Testament, are now experiencing terrible losses. How do we lose our closest friends and homes? How are Ukrainian children changing and what kind of post-memory will the next generation have? Finally, who is each of us in this war?’ reads the annotation on the publisher's website.

‘Call Sign for Job by Mykhed won the Yuriy Shevelov Prize for the best Ukrainian book of essays in 2023 and was included in the list of the best publications of 2023 according to PEN Ukraine.

In 2024, the English-language version was published by Penguin Books.

39th place. ‘The Ukraine' by reporter, writer and translator Artem Chapai was first published in Ukraine in 2018. It includes more than 20 texts by the author, in which he tells about Ukraine at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

‘In The Ukraine, the boundary between fiction and documentary is deliberately broken: some parts of the text literally reproduce reality, while others are a work of imagination. Will every reader understand which is which? And does it really matter? After all, a work of fiction can be more believable than absurd reality. The fragments of The Ukraine are tangentially connected, like in a jigsaw puzzle, and from their totality, the outlines of Ukraine at the beginning of the twenty-first century emerge in relief. Or the Ukraine, as the characters ironically call it,’ the annotation reads.

The book was published in English by Seven Stories Press UK.

50th place. ‘Chernobyl Roulette' by Harvard University historian Serhiy Plokhiy is a book about the Russian occupation of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 2022. The story covers 35 days of war and the stories of workers who became hostages of the occupation forces.

‘The fascinating and unforgettable Chornobyl Roulette raises the alarm about the dangers of nuclear facilities at an unprecedented time when the plant's workers are forced to fight alone and the world is waiting with bated breath for rescue. In the book, which reads like a thriller, Serhiy Plokhiy tells an amazing story about human nature, uncertainty and courage,’ the publication's synopsis reads.

The English edition is also available from the leading Penguin Books.

The book 'Our Enemies will Vanish' by Yaroslav Trofimov, an Italian journalist of Ukrainian origin, also took 22nd place in the ranking. It deals with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.