How Good It Is I Have No Fear of Dying - by Lara Marlowe (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Publishing on the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine: The gripping, heartrending story, told in her own words, of a formidable 29-year-old woman serving as a commander on the front lines of the War in Ukraine - and an intimate, hair-raising look at modern warfare ... Lieutenant Yulia Mykytenko, a commander in the Ukrainian army serving on the front line of battle, embodies the country's resistance to the Russian invasion. When her father self-immolated on Maidan Square, Kyiv, in an act of protest, she held a press conference to explain to journalists that he acted "in sound mind." When she heard - via radio-phone on the front line - that her husband had been killed nearby, she had to keep fighting. In 2023, veteran war correspondent Lara Marlowe met Mykytenko while covering the war, and found her to be "one of the most extraordinary people I have interviewed in 42 years of journalism." So, she kept on interviewing her. From their months of conversations, Marlowe stitched together Mykytenko's accounts into a riveting revelation of what modern warfare is really like. Told entirely in Mykytenko's first person voice, it is a story of cluster bombs, ballistic missiles, and drones. Mykytenko, in fact, most recently has commanded a drone unit, and the scenes of launching drone attacks, and of being attacked by drones, are electrifying and harrowing. At the same time there are vestiges of WWII: trench warfare, no-man's lands seeded with mines, even chemical weapons. The result is an urgent story of a besieged nation, a vivid look at the changing face of warfare, and the stirring tale of an inspirational woman fighting for her country's survival"--

Book Synopsis

Publishing on the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine: The gripping, heartrending story, told in her own words, of a formidable 29-year-old woman serving as a commander on the front lines of the War in Ukraine -- and an intimate, hair-raising look at modern warfare . . .

Lieutenant Yulia Mykytenko, a commander in the Ukrainian army serving on the front line of battle, embodies her country's resistance to the Russian invasion. When her father self-immolated on Maidan Square in central Kyiv in an act of protest, she held a press conference to explain to journalists that he acted "in sound mind." Later, in battle on the front line, she would learn via radio-phone that her husband had been killed nearby.

In 2023, veteran war correspondent Lara Marlowe met Mykytenko while covering the war, and found her to be "one of the most extraordinary people I have interviewed in 42 years of journalism." From their months of conversations, Marlowe stitched together Mykytenko's accounts into a riveting revelation of what modern warfare is really like.

Told entirely in Mykytenko's first person voice, it is a story of cluster bombs and ballistic missiles. Mykytenko has most recently commanded a drone unit, and the scenes of launching drone attacks, and of being attacked by drones, are electrifying and harrowing. At the same time there are vestiges of WWII: trench warfare, no-man's lands seeded with mines, even chemical weapons.

The result is an urgent story of a besieged nation, a vivid look at the changing face of warfare, and the stirring tale of an inspirational woman fighting for her country's survival.

Review Quotes

"What an extraordinary, spectacular book! As long as there are women like Mykytenko in the world, human society will be okay. The combination of courage and love in a single person is an ancient story and one that we must hear over and over again to know that it's possible. And Marlowe's prose is so powerful and compelling that I was at a loss as to when to put the book down... It may well be one of the best and most important books to come out of this brutal war that Russia has inflicted on Ukraine." -- Sebastian Junger, author of the New York Times bestseller The Perfect Storm

"Marlowe does excellent work translating interviews with Mykytenko into seamless and beautifully written prose. This book provides everything readers want to know about the war in Ukraine and the indefatigable courage of that country's fighters. A tour de force of hope and service amid the destruction of a horrific, ongoing war." -- Booklist, STARRED review

"An extensive report from the front lines of Ukraine, viewed through the eyes of a war-weary but indomitable officer. . . A wartime account of searing intensity and righteous anger." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Lara Marlowe's book has the depth and breadth of a documentary and the subtlety and insight of a novel. If you wish to understand the war in Ukraine, and why and how the Ukrainians are fighting with such valour and tenacity, then read this vivid, moving and affirmative testimony." -- John Banville, Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea

"This is an account of the Ukranian soul. If you want to know who we are and why we fight, if you want to understand the heart of this conflict, from the experience of a woman who has seen more than you will ever know, please read this book. It touched me deeply. I recognized the events and familiar places, but most of all, I recognized Yulia Mykytenko. [This is] such a powerful book about this strong and willful female soldier. The roots of Ukrainian defiance are clearly visible in this down-to-earth but moving story." -- Andrey Kurkov, author of Death and the Penguin

"Unsparing but tender, filled with love and pain, this extraordinary book gives voice to a new generation of Ukrainians whose lives have been interrupted by the Russian war machine that has sought to destroy and subjugate their homeland since 2014." -- Yaroslav Trofimov, Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, The Wall Street Journal

"A defiant dispatch from the crucible of Ukraine, How Good It Is I Have No Fear of Dying brings an illuminating vision of an ongoing war, a portrait of bravery and endurance amidst the dirge of battle." -- Nico Walker, author of the New York Times bestseller Cherry

"This book is an extraordinary act of moral courage. It feels like it was created not so much by a writer, and indeed her subject, but by the absolutely necessary spirit of our times. It is a book that is prepared to reach the depths of despair, and yet somehow to cleave open the darkness too. A song about our broken times, it reveals the human strands that hold us together against the odds." -- Colum McCann, author of Let the Great World Spin

"The book you are holding is more than a muscular and gripping personal narrative from the frontline of the 21st-century's bloodiest European conflict: it is an irreplaceable chronicle of a modern war in which women command soldiers, fight over the last machine gun at a recruitment center, and pick out wedding dresses during lulls between leading troops into battle." -- Anna Badkhen, author of Bright Unbearable Reality

"This is a quite extraordinary book . . . Vivid in its depiction of the human cost of the conflict, intelligent in its explanation of causes and consequences, I recommend this book to anybody who wants to understand what is at stake in this conflict for all of us." -- Fergal Keane, author of The Madness: A Memoir of War, Fear and PTSD

About the Author

Lara Marlowe is an American born journalist who started her career as an associate producer at 60 Minutes, before switching to print media. She has reported for the Financial Times, Time Magazine, and, most recently The Irish Times, where she has worked for nearly 30 years as a foreign correspondent. She is especially recognized as a Middle East and Eastern European expert.