Dress Rehearsal - (Ukrainian Voices) by Larisa Kalik (Paperback)

About the Book

This book explores life in Transnistria, a Russian-backed breakaway region between Moldova and Ukraine. Journalist Larisa Kalik blends memoir and reportage to reveal how this frozen conflict shapes identity, daily life, and Russia's strategies for hybrid warfare in Ukraine and beyond.

Book Synopsis

In the shadow of Europe's borders lies Transnistria--an unrecognized sliver of land wedged between Moldova and Ukraine. For over three decades, it has existed in political limbo: cut off from the world, sustained by Moscow, and ruled by an authoritarian elite. Part time capsule, part laboratory for Russian influence, it is one of the longest-running "frozen conflicts" in the post-Soviet space--and a blueprint for Russia's future wars. Blending personal memoir, first-hand interviews, and investigative reporting, journalist Larisa Kalik pulls back the curtain on daily life inside this enigmatic pseudo-state. She traces the roots of Transnistria's Russian-backed separatism, the war that cemented its "independence," and the ways its experience has shaped the Kremlin's playbook for hybrid warfare in Ukraine and beyond. This is not just a story of geopolitics, but of people navigating a place where borders are fluid, identity is contested, and history refuses to end. From the streets of Tiraspol to the front lines of Ukraine, Kalik--herself a native of Transnistria forced into exile to Ukraine--offers an unflinching account of life under unrecognized rule, and a vivid portrait of how unresolved conflicts can define a region's fate for generations.

About the Author

Larisa Kalik (Author)
Larisa Kalik was born and raised in Transnistria. After publishing a book based on interviews with Transnistrian army conscripts, she was forced to flee the region due to safety concerns and relocated to Ukraine. Her Ukrainian roots have played a significant role in shaping her identity, both personally and professionally. As a journalist and writer, she has covered Russia's war against Ukraine, working on the front lines to document the conflict through photography and written reports.

Francis Farrell (Foreword by)
Francis Farrell is a reporter at The Kyiv Independent, co-author of the newsletter War Notes, and recipient of a Charles Douglas-Home Memorial Trust grant. He previously worked as a managing editor for the online media project Lossi 36, freelance journalist, and documentary photographer, as well as in OSCE and Council of Europe field missions in Albania and Ukraine

Kate Tsurkan (Translated by)
Kate Tsurkan is a reporter at The Kyiv Independent, co-founder of the magazine Apofenie, author of the newsletter Explaining Ukraine, and co-translator of Oleh Sentsov's Diary of a Hunger Striker (Deep Vellum 2024). Her writing and translations have appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Harpers, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere.