The Wizard of the Kremlin
Published on 26. October 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-1-80533-094-3 (ISBN)
Description
He was known as the Wizard of the Kremlin. The enigmatic Vadim Baranov was a TV producer before becoming political advisor to Putin. After he resigns from this position, legends about himmultiply, without anyone being able to distinguish truth from fiction. Until one night, he tells his story to the narrator of this book...
Welcome to the heart of Russian power, where sycophants and oligarchs have been engaging in open warfare, and where Vadim, now the regime's main spin doctor, turns an entire country into an avant-garde political stage. Yet Vadim is not as ambitious as the others. Entangled in the increasingly dark secret workings of the regime he has contributed to build, he will do anything to get out, guided by the memory of his grandfather, an eccentric aristocrat who survived the Revolution, and the mesmerizing, merciless Ksenia, whom he has fallen in love with.
From the war in Chechnya to the invasion of Ukraine, The Wizard of the Kremlin is a great novel on contemporary Russia, and a sobering meditation on power, which takes the reader behind the scenes of the Putin era.
Welcome to the heart of Russian power, where sycophants and oligarchs have been engaging in open warfare, and where Vadim, now the regime's main spin doctor, turns an entire country into an avant-garde political stage. Yet Vadim is not as ambitious as the others. Entangled in the increasingly dark secret workings of the regime he has contributed to build, he will do anything to get out, guided by the memory of his grandfather, an eccentric aristocrat who survived the Revolution, and the mesmerizing, merciless Ksenia, whom he has fallen in love with.
From the war in Chechnya to the invasion of Ukraine, The Wizard of the Kremlin is a great novel on contemporary Russia, and a sobering meditation on power, which takes the reader behind the scenes of the Putin era.
Reviews / Votes
'A staggering account of the mental makeup and aggressive logic of Vladimir Putin... A story of great literary and historical force that you must read if you want to understand what, from here, seems incomprehensible' - Liberation'A highly economical, well documented pageturner, describing twenty years in the corridors of Russian power, with a simple, seductive style and unmatched realism' - Frederic Beigbeder
'You cannot put this book down... Fascinating and suffocating. A clinical analysis of the art of authoritarian rule' - France Inter
'An absolutely extraordinary novel... You feel you're sitting on a sofa next to Putin, that you are inside his head' - Patricia Martin
'Of course this novel sheds a revealing light on current geopolitical events. But it will outlive them thanks to its unwavering lucidity and sparkling style' - Le Monde des Livres
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 214 mm
Width: 133 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
304 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80533-094-3 (9781805330943)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Giuliano da Empoli is an Italian and Swiss writer and journalist living in France. He was once a senior advisor to Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. The Wizard of the Kremlin is his debut novel. It has sold more than half a million copies in France, where it also won the Grand Prix du Roman and was a finalist for the Goncourt Prize. It has since gone on to become an international bestseller, translated into twenty-eight languages across the world.