The Border - A Journey Around Russia

A journey along the seemingly endless Russian border - from North Korea in the Far East through Russia's bordering states in Asia and the Caucasus, crossing the Caspian Ocean and the Black Sea along the way.

"Erika Fatland [is] shaping up to be one of the Nordics' most exciting new travel writers" National Geographic

SHORTLISTED FOR THE STANFORDS DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020

"A hauntingly lyrical meditation to the contingencies of history" Wall Street Journal

"[An] impressive mix of history, reportage and travel memoir" Washington Post

The Border is a book about Russia and Russian history without its author ever entering Russia itself; a book about being the neighbour of that mighty, expanding empire throughout history. It is a chronicle of the colourful, exciting, tragic and often unbelievable histories of these bordering nations, their cultures, their people, their landscapes.

Through her last three documentary books - one about terrorism in Beslan, one about the 2011 terror attacks in Norway and one about post-Soviet Central Asia - social anthropologist Erika Fatland has established herself as a sharp observer and an outstanding interviewer at the forefront of Nordic non-fiction.

Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson

“Truly a masterly performance . . . The book has so many qualities that it is impossible to mention them all. Fatland masters the genre to perfection . . . The Border transcends all borders. Reading it is a true delight.”

The strength of Fatland's second travel book lies in its ability to make history come alive through stories . . . Well-informed, precise, astute in its restraint, entertaining, balanced and not without the occasional dose of gentle irony - every chapter written by this border-crosser, who doesn't shy away from any ordeal, is captivating reading. - Sueddeutsche Zeitung

Truly a masterly performance . . . The book has so many qualities that it is impossible to mention them all. Fatland masters the genre to perfection . . . The Border transcends all borders. Reading it is a true delight. - Aftenposten

Masterly . . . A Norwegian Marco Polo . . . The lines of force of history become clear thanks to this thorough and well-written book by one of our best and most original young nonfiction authors. - Dagbladet

The Border is like a kinderegg, it is a travel book, a history book, and a biography of people we normally do not hear much about but to whom we become close through Fatland's long Odyssey. - V.G.

Erika Fatland was born in 1983 and studied Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo. Her 2011 book, The Village of Angels, was an in situ report on the Beslan terror attacks of 2004 and she is also the author of The Year Without Summer, describing the harrowing year that followed the massacre on Utoya in 2011. For Sovietistan (2019) she was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford/Lonely Planet Debut Travel Writer of the Year, and The Border (2020) was shortlisted for the Stanfords Dolman Travel Book of the Year 2020. She speaks eight languages and lives in Oslo with her husband.

"Erika Fatland [is} shaping up to be one of the Nordics' most exciting new travel writers" National Geographic "A hauntingly lyrical meditation to the contingencies of history" Wall Street Journal SHORTLISTED FOR THE STANFORDS DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 Erika Fatland travels along the seemingly endless Russian border - from North Korea in the Far East through Russia's bordering states in Asia and the Caucasus, crossing the Caspian Ocean and the Black Sea along the way. The Border is a book about Russia and Russian history without its author ever entering Russia itself; a book about being the neighbour of that mighty, expanding empire throughout history. It is a chronicle of the colourful, exciting, tragic and often unbelievable histories of these bordering nations, their cultures, their people, their landscapes.Through her last three documentary books - one about terrorism in Beslan, one about the 2011 terror attacks in Norway and one about post-Soviet Central Asia - social anthropologist Erika Fatland has established herself as a sharp observer and an outstanding interviewer at the forefront of Nordic non-fiction. Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson

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