NEW YEAR, NEW NOVEL

As any writer will tell you, a new novel does not materialise overnight. It takes time and the proverbial blood, sweat and tears. And this novel has been my labour of love. After hosting several Ukrainian families, I saw their struggle, and their desire for freedom. They want independence from the brutal and old fashioned regime that is Russia today. Young Ukrainians are modern and detest anything to do with the old Soviet attitudes. It doesn't seem too much to ask. But added to their suffering, this past year, the horrendous situation with the new, shiny, brutal USA flared. Ukrainians are brave – no one doubts that. They also want to go home and live in peace, as do we all.

From these thoughts, I had the kernel of an idea.

Obeying the laws of cultural appropriation, I knew I couldn't write from the Ukrainian perspective. For that, I must bow to the Booker Prize winner of 2009, Andrey Kurkov, a brilliant Ukrainian satirist of Soviet attitudes. A novelist who imbues his stories with Ukraine's history and the idiocy of Russia's current mindset. So I opted to write a novel from the perspective of a young English woman, who becomes involved with a Ukrainian man in London on the cusp of Russia's invasion. It is loosely based on an updating of Anna Karenina, and it might seem odd that I choose a Russian classic text to throw out mirror images of Anna's struggle and secrets. But the Russia of Czars was not Soviet Russia, and Ukrainian history is intertwined with Russia. As any Ukrainian will tell you – first there was Kievan Rus (ancient Ukraine), then there was Russia, taking its name from the Rus part of the empire. So, although, I give a nod to Tolstoy, my characters flesh out the Ukrainian hopes and optimism that they have held in their thirty years of freedom between Cold and Hot war.. I also outline the rise of Putin's regime and the effect it has on ordinary people in everyday life – think of the Salisbury poisonings. So there's plenty of intrigue that throws a light on current espionage tactics.

But first and foremost, my book is a love story, and I regard my latest novel as a love letter to Ukraine. For this reason I have sought a distribution that goes wide, throughout the world, in the hope you can pick up a copy of The Anna Puzzle, where ever you choose to get your reads.

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone and may you stay safe.

The Anna Puzzle is available online and in stores.