Russia Starts Here

An extraordinary investigation into the lives of ordinary people in Russia and what lies behind Putin's popularity.

Armed with years of firsthand experience and knowledge, Howard Amos draws a compelling and unsparing account of the lives of many ordinary, and extraordinary, Russians , delivering their stories of disillusionment, hope, love, and memories in an unflinching style laced with both cynicism and empathy. Truly kaleidoscopic and unique in its reach, this is a superbly written and unusual book that is sometimes difficult to read but is ultimately absolutely unforgettable .

An exquisitely observed and subtle portrait of a key region of Russia which throws light on the character of the country as a whole. Here are the roots of autocracy and war, but also of heroic resistance, selflessness and survival . Full of empathy, Amos refuses easy stereotypes. This is a penetrating study which confronts the violence, manipulation and injustice at the heart of modern Russia while brimming with humanity and insight .

In Russia Starts Here, Howard Amos shows how the lesser-travelled region of Pskov is not only a bulwark against Europe, but in some ways the heartland of Russia : domain of Putin's personal priest and Alexander Pushkin's ancestral seat. It is a beautifully observed, melancholy and humanising travelogue that recalls the work of Anna Funder, transported to a land of crumbling edifices where almost-forgotten history weighs heavily on the living .

A work of exceptional reportage. Every encounter is woven with humanity, lyricism and insight into ordinary lives. This kind of nuance is rare . So is a story from border territory as relevant as this in the present, past and future. A different level of insight to anything I’ve read for a long time about Russia.

Howard Amos has looked hard at the Russia that everyone else ignores . The stories he tells are elegiac, strange, and just a bit heart-breaking .

By fixing his focus onto one region of Russia Amos reflects the vast caste of Russia’s relentless nightmares

Full of empathy and adventure , this book brings us to a vast, marshy land in the very center of the European continent. This is one of the least known parts of the earth, the heart of our new darkness . With their dying crafts, false cults and insane chiefs, its people are still smiling and hospitable. It is better to be where Russia starts than where it ends.

This timely book is a fascinating and personal journey through the tragedy of post-Soviet Russia; wise, perceptive and humane .

a memoir of the end of [Howard Amos'] Russia story – a wistful account of the country’s years of dimming hope and gathering darkness.

Howard Amos is a writer and journalist, who has been published by outlets including The Guardian, Newsweek, Foreign Policy, The Associated Press and The New Republic. Raised in London, he spent a year living in Russia’s Pskov Region before working for almost a decade as a correspondent in Moscow. He left Russia in the days after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and, based out of Armenia, did a year-long stint as editor-in-chief of The Moscow Times in exile. He now lives in Edinburgh.