Winner of the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award Best Book of the Year - New York Public Library, Cosmopolitan, Independent Book Review 'Pickhart's story is powerful, boldly imaginative, rich in history and feeling, charged with events that have occurred since it was written - and which summon up the same force of the history that compelled an American author to write about this "foreign land".' The Times 2014 Kyiv, Ukraine. The city is poised on a knife-edge as tensions mount around a corrupt government's increasing ties to Russia. As protests erupt across the city, the fates of four individuals come together. Katya is a Ukrainian-American doctor stationed at a makeshift medical clinic treating wounded protesters; Misha is an engineer originally from Pripyat, near Chernobyl, grieving the death of his wife; Slava is a fiery young activist whose past hardships steel her determination; Aleksandr Ivanovich, a former KGB agent, climbs atop a burned-out bus at Independence Square and plays the piano. In this dazzling, inventive debut novel - set during the 'Revolution of Dignity' - Kalani Pickhart weaves together a rich tapestry of voices to create a moving story about beauty, love and survival during tumultuous times.

Winner of the New York Public Library Young Lions Award Best Book of the Year -New York Public Library, Cosmopolitan, Independent Book Review "I tore through I Will Die in a Foreign Land... nothing has given me such a profound impression of what Ukrainians have endured as this intensely moving novel." Ron Charles, Washington Post In 1913, a Russian ballet incited a riot in Paris at the new Theatre de Champs-Elysees. "Only a Russian could do that," says Aleksandr Ivanovich. "Only a Russian could make the whole world go mad." A century later, in November 2013, thousands of Ukrainian citizens gathered at Independence Square (Euromaidan) in Kyiv to protest then-President Yanukovych's failure to sign a referendum with the European Union, opting instead to forge a closer alliance with President Vladimir Putin and Russia. The peaceful protests turned violent when military police shot live ammunition into the crowd, killing over a hundred civilians. I Will Die in a Foreign Land is a novel that follows four individuals over the course of a volatile Ukrainian winter, as their lives are changed forever by the Euromaidan protests. Katya is a Ukrainian-American doctor stationed at a makeshift medical clinic in St. Michael's Monastery; Misha is an engineer originally from Pripyat, near Chernobyl, who has lived in Kyiv since his wife's death; Slava is a fiery young activist whose past hardships steel her determination in the face of persecution; and Aleksandr Ivanovich, a former KGB agent, climbs atop a burned-out police bus at Independence Square and plays the piano. As Katya, Misha, Slava, and Aleksandr's lives become intertwined, they each seek out love, redemption and meaning during a tumultuous and violent period. In this dazzling debut novel, Kalani Pickhart blends narrative, folklore, journalism and Slavic history to create a moving story of beauty and love in a time of terror, I Will Die in a Foreign Land is an ambitious, intimate, and haunting portrait of human perseverance and the will to survive.

Winner of the New York Public Library Young Lions Award Best Book of the Year -New York Public Library, Cosmopolitan, Independent Book Review "I tore through I Will Die in a Foreign Land... nothing has given me such a profound impression of what Ukrainians have endured as this intensely moving novel." Ron Charles, Washington Post In 1913, a Russian ballet incited a riot in Paris at the new Theatre de Champs-Elysees. "Only a Russian could do that," says Aleksandr Ivanovich. "Only a Russian could make the whole world go mad." A century later, in November 2013, thousands of Ukrainian citizens gathered at Independence Square (Euromaidan) in Kyiv to protest then-President Yanukovych's failure to sign a referendum with the European Union, opting instead to forge a closer alliance with President Vladimir Putin and Russia. The peaceful protests turned violent when military police shot live ammunition into the crowd, killing over a hundred civilians. I Will Die in a Foreign Land is a novel that follows four individuals over the course of a volatile Ukrainian winter, as their lives are changed forever by the Euromaidan protests. Katya is a Ukrainian-American doctor stationed at a makeshift medical clinic in St. Michael's Monastery; Misha is an engineer originally from Pripyat, near Chernobyl, who has lived in Kyiv since his wife's death; Slava is a fiery young activist whose past hardships steel her determination in the face of persecution; and Aleksandr Ivanovich, a former KGB agent, climbs atop a burned-out police bus at Independence Square and plays the piano. As Katya, Misha, Slava, and Aleksandr's lives become intertwined, they each seek out love, redemption and meaning during a tumultuous and violent period. In this dazzling debut novel, Kalani Pickhart blends narrative, folklore, journalism and Slavic history to create a moving story of beauty and love in a time of terror, I Will Die in a Foreign Land is an ambitious, intimate, and haunting portrait of human perseverance and the will to survive.