Coming Home
the gripping true story of the Olympic champion unjustly imprisoned in Russia
Published on 15. May 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
328 pages
978-1-914613-77-7 (ISBN)
Description
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
From the nine-time women's basketball icon and three-time Olympic gold medallist - a raw, revelatory account of her unfathomable detainment in Russia and her journey home.
On 17 February 2022, Brittney Griner arrived in Moscow ready to spend the WNBA offseason playing for the Russian women's basketball team where she had been the centrepiece of previous championship seasons. Instead, a security checkpoint became her gateway to hell when she was arrested for mistakenly carrying under one gram of medically prescribed hash oil. Brittney's world was violently upended in a crisis she has never spoken in detail about publicly - until now.
In Coming Home, Brittney finally shares the harrowing details of her sudden arrest days before Russia invaded Ukraine; her bewilderment and isolation while navigating a foreign legal system amid her trial and sentencing; her emotional and physical anguish as the first American woman ever to endure a Russian penal colony while the #WeAreBG movement rallied for her release; the chilling prisoner swap with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout; and her remarkable rise from hostage to global spokesperson on behalf of America's forgotten. In haunting and vivid detail, Brittney takes readers inside the horrors of a geopolitical nightmare spanning ten months.
And yet Coming Home is more than Brittney's journey from captivity to freedom. In an account as gripping as it is poignant, she shares how her deep love for Cherelle, her wife of six years, anchored her during their greatest storm; how her family's support pulled her back from the brink; and how hundreds of letters from friends and neighbours lent her resolve to keep fighting. Coming Home is both a story of survival and a testament to love - the bonds that brought Brittney home to her family, and at last, to herself.
From the nine-time women's basketball icon and three-time Olympic gold medallist - a raw, revelatory account of her unfathomable detainment in Russia and her journey home.
On 17 February 2022, Brittney Griner arrived in Moscow ready to spend the WNBA offseason playing for the Russian women's basketball team where she had been the centrepiece of previous championship seasons. Instead, a security checkpoint became her gateway to hell when she was arrested for mistakenly carrying under one gram of medically prescribed hash oil. Brittney's world was violently upended in a crisis she has never spoken in detail about publicly - until now.
In Coming Home, Brittney finally shares the harrowing details of her sudden arrest days before Russia invaded Ukraine; her bewilderment and isolation while navigating a foreign legal system amid her trial and sentencing; her emotional and physical anguish as the first American woman ever to endure a Russian penal colony while the #WeAreBG movement rallied for her release; the chilling prisoner swap with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout; and her remarkable rise from hostage to global spokesperson on behalf of America's forgotten. In haunting and vivid detail, Brittney takes readers inside the horrors of a geopolitical nightmare spanning ten months.
And yet Coming Home is more than Brittney's journey from captivity to freedom. In an account as gripping as it is poignant, she shares how her deep love for Cherelle, her wife of six years, anchored her during their greatest storm; how her family's support pulled her back from the brink; and how hundreds of letters from friends and neighbours lent her resolve to keep fighting. Coming Home is both a story of survival and a testament to love - the bonds that brought Brittney home to her family, and at last, to herself.
Reviews / Votes
'Weaves the swooping drama of the high-stakes narrative with empathic glimpses of Griner's upbringing' Observer 'A visceral, harrowing account of what it's like to be trapped inside Russia's infamous criminal justice system... also the harrowing-in-a-different-way story of what it's like to grow up Black, female, gay and startlingly tall' New York Times 'A riveting read' Washington Post 'Devastating... deeply personal, publicly powerful' Slate.com 'Just finished. Couldn't put it down. What an incredible story, what an incredible human being' Glennon Doyle on Instagram, author of UntamedMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Duckworth Books
Illustrations
8 pp colour plates
Dimensions
Height: 194 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
294 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-914613-77-7 (9781914613777)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Brittney Griner is an American professional basketball player. She is a three-time Olympic gold medallist and was additionally named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time magazine.