One Ukrainian Summer

'A memoir that captivates and delights. Fabulous' —Nina Stibbe

Autumn 1993. The former USSR. Viv is about to turn twenty-one and is on a study year abroad, supposedly immersed in the language, history, and politics of a world that has just ceased to exist: the Soviet Union.

Instead, she finds herself immersed in Bogdan Bogdanovich—the lead guitarist of a Ukrainian punk rock band. As the temperature drops, he promises that if she can get through the freezing Russian winter, he will give her "one Ukrainian summer." But is he serious about her? Or is she just another groupie?

At parties, gigs, and dive bars, Viv and her new friends argue over whose turn it is to buy cigarettes, the best places to find Levi's jeans and whether beer counts as a soft drink. No one debates the merits of speaking Ukrainian over Russian, the precise location of the border, or the undeniable brightness of the future. Of course good times are here to stay. Because the Soviet Union is finished. Isn't it?

A poignant and often comical account of coming-of-age in the time after the Cold War and before Putin, One Ukrainian Summer is a love letter to a unique moment in history.