Description

A first-hand account of art, survival and resistance in wartime Ukraine

‘The most beautifully written, moving book I can ever remember reading’ PHILIPPA PERRY

‘A book for our times’ PHILIPPE SANDS

‘A brilliant and unforgettable book’ EDMUND DE WAAL

Charlotte Higgins never imagined she would report on a war. But in the autumn of 2022, seven months into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, she travelled there to find out how artists and writers were reflecting the devastating events in their work. The experience would change her life.

In a war fuelled by the attempted erasure of Ukrainian culture – a war that has killed countless artists and created countless more – art has become a matter of life and death. In times of war, art and literature are where difficulty and complexity survive: where the most painful, unspeakable truths can still be faced.

Drawing on two decades of cultural journalism, three years of reporting trips to Ukraine and her training as a classicist, Ukrainian Lessons explores the profound connections between war, art and life. It is a searing, urgent and unforgettable book about what artists are prepared to risk – and why culture is worth fighting for.

‘An excellent book’ HENRY MARSH
‘A survival manual for our blood-stricken times’ JACQUELINE ROSE
‘Beautiful, erudite, heart-breaking’ LINDSEY HILSUM

Publisher Review

This is the most beautifully written, moving book I can ever remember reading. There is so much love in it. — Philippa Perry Ukrainian Lessons is a brilliant and unforgettable book. It is an intensely moving meditation on war, memory and loss written with compassion and anger and love. I want everyone I know to read it — Edmund de Waal This book is a gift and an act of courage. Ukrainian Lessons teaches us how war makes art, and how the artist tells us the truth of war. Charlotte Higgins has written a survival manual for our blood-stricken times — Jacqueline Rose Miraculous reading; a book that blows your heart open to the atrocities of invasion and the rich wonders of Ukrainian art. Never has a work of non-fiction so inspired and moved me. Charlotte Higgins leaves you galvanised and furious. — Fiona Benson Charlotte Higgins has poured such heart, erudition and humanity into this intensely moving and gorgeously written book. Ukrainian Lessons is a superb achievement, distilling why, for so many Ukrainians, art has become a fierce and necessary response to war… Every page is unforgettable — Rachel Clarke An excellent book. A moving testament to the horror of the war in Ukraine and the vital role of culture in fighting it. — Henry Marsh A book for our times, bringing to life remarkable people and places, and the beating heart of humanity and war, all brilliantly wrought by a uniquely present and special writer — Philippe Sands Russia’s ultimate aim is to destroy Ukrainian identity and culture. Higgins takes you into the thick of this literal culture war, where art meets murder. The way she moves between epics and epochs enables you to see the Ukraine war in its true meaning – as the struggle for a people’s identity — Peter Pomerantsev Few writers have deepened our understanding of the human experience of the war more than Charlotte Higgins… In Ukrainian Lessons, all of her work – of risk and reporting and study – has combined to produce an unassuming masterpiece of journalistic memoir. Here is a book that must be read by anyone hoping to fathom this ominous decade of European history — John Jeremiah Sullivan A beautiful, erudite, heartbreaking book. Charlotte Higgins conveys a deep understanding of the centrality of culture to the Ukrainian cause, as she examines whether art can have redemptive power in a time of war. But it is the quality of her prose that sets this book apart. I loved it. — Lindsey Hilsum Art is not silent in times of war. Rather, it speaks louder and with more power than ever. This is one of many lessons brought to us by Charlotte Higgins in this wonderfully written book — Serhii Plokhy Ukrainian Lessons made me think about what art can do and the stark reality of what art can never begin to mend. It left me sobered, harrowed, confronted and moved to the core — Kate Molleson Ukrainian Lessons exemplifies all the best in human nature in the face of all the worst… and does exactly what Czeslaw Milosz said poetry itself must do: act as moral record, give voice to victims of destruction, and chronicle human life in catastrophe — Ruth Padel A portrait of artmaking in its rawest, saddest, most beautiful form, Ukrainian Lessons is a testament to Charlotte Higgins’ brilliant empathy and a country’s startling resilience — Oliver Basciano Drawing on conflict art from Greek tragedy to contemporary Gaza, [Higgins’s] experiences are channelled in this kaleidoscopic and immensely powerful account of the profound connections between war, art and life — Caroline Sanderson * The Bookseller, Editor’s Choice * [A] timely, insightful and resonant account of the impact of conflict on culture, creativity and art * Bookseller * I have already read a proof copy of Ukrainian Lessons, but I’ll go more slowly this time, savouring the luminous prose and the message of hope that the book offers * Times Literary Supplement, *Summer Reads of 2026* *