Undefeatable

Julian Evans has been reporting as a journalist on Ukraine for 27 years. His latest book is Semi-Invisible Man: the Life of Norman Lewis (Jonathan Cape, Picador). He has also written and presented radio and television documentaries and writes for English and French newspapers and magazines including The Guardian, Prospect, Times Literary Supplemen and L’Atelier du Roman. He translates from French and German and is a recipient of the Prix du Rayonnement de la Langue Française from the Académie Française. He is also a Royal Literary Fund Consultant Fellow.

‘Julian Evans' deeply felt memoir of an Englishman’s experiences in Ukraine over half a lifetime, wry, unsparing and lyrical, is scattered with bright evocations of a country striving, against the odds, to be’– James Meek

• Black and white Chagall-like London–Moldavanka Odesa’s people Car lords Orange sun Ukrainian relations Missile strike Shell shock Lovebombs Solidarity dancing Such a place really exists Personal and political: an afterword