Night Train to Odesa: Covering the Human Cost of Russia’s War
When Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, millions of lives changed in an instant.
Millions of people were suddenly on the move. In this great flow of people was a reporter from the north of Scotland. Jen Stout left Moscow abruptly, ending up on a border post in southeast Romania, from where she began to cover the human cost of Russian aggression. Her first-hand, vivid reporting brought the war home to readers in Scotland as she reported from front lines and cities across Ukraine. Stories from the night trains, birthday parties, military hospitals and bunkers: stories from the ground, from a writer with a deep sense of empathy, always seeking to understand the bigger picture, the big questions of identity, history, hopes and fears in this war in Europe.
Night Train to Odesa begins in Russia and continues to focus on people, relationships and individuals in Ukraine. It is the account of a young female reporter with no institutional backup or security. Both in language and themes, it is accessible and highly readable.
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A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK.
WINNER OF THE SALTIRE SOCIETY FIRST BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD.
WINNER OF THE HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE AWARD.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE SHERBORNE PRIZE FOR TRAVEL WRITING.
"Jen Stout's heart-seizing account of Ukraine at war brings us that nation's living presence like no other book. She puts across not just the tragedy but the astonishing vigour and colour of a people determined to live generously and joyfully under bombardment. 'Night Train' is three-dimensional: Jen Stout's book is not just a report of darkened cities and piteous survivors, but a highly personal journal of one young Scot's first experiences of war. As a freelance journalist, speaking Russian and learning Ukrainian, she found vivid friendships near the front line and in Ukraine's magnificent battered but majestic cities. Not all of those friends survived. It's not just Jen's reporting but the way she chronicles her own turbulent feelings which make 'Night Train to Odesa' so moving and unforgettable."
Neal Ascherson
Journalist and author of BLACK SEA
‘A celebration of Ukraine and a lament for it. This extraordinary book may have been written in compassion and anger, but the note that rings out is love’
Peter Ross
Journalist and author of TOMB WITH A VIEW and UPON A WHITE HORSE
‘Night Train to Odesa’ is a thrilling read. Rich in reportage and infused with a deep knowledge of Ukraine, it is a masterful book from one of the best young journalists in Britain’
David Patrikarikos
Journalist and author of WAR IN 140 CHARACTERS
‘In Night Train to Odesa Jen Stout connects us intimately to the story of a nation rising in defiance. She weaves deep sympathy for the human struggle with a layered understanding of history, politics, and the complex loyalties of a society under threat’
Angus Bancroft
Professor of Sociology, University of Edinburgh
‘This book is the perfect riposte to the arm chair experts who insist they know about Russia’s war in Ukraine. It’s also the kind of old school reportage that has never been more vital in these troubled times when click bait is meant to suffice. It’s up close, personal, and beautifully written in a style that is both searing and intimate. There are real echoes here of that other great war reportage classic, The Face of War, by Martha Gellhorn.’
David Pratt
Foreign correspondent, photographer and broadcaster
‘This book is the perfect riposte to the arm chair experts who insist they know about Russia’s war in Ukraine. It’s also the kind of old school reportage that has never been more vital in these troubled times when click bait is meant to suffice. It’s up close, personal, and beautifully written in a style that is both searing and intimate. There are real echoes here of that other great war reportage classic, The Face of War, by Martha Gellhorn.’
Angus Bancroft
Professor of Sociology, University of Edinburgh
‘Jen Stout is very brave. And she is a storyteller of supreme gifts. She has travelled through the war without the backup and financial support that comes with working for the big media organisations. I am in awe of her resourcefulness and courage’
Fergal Keane
Former BBC correspondent and bestselling author of THE MADNESS: A MEMOIR OF WAR, FEAR AND PTSD
‘The brutality of the war in Ukraine is told with great empathy, compassion and skill by Jen Stout in Night Train to Odessa. She shows not only great courage in her reporting on the ground, but the immense human cost of war, told with passion and clarity, seeking to understand the larger pattern of Vladimir Putin's war not only on Ukraine, but on democracy and the global order’
Janine di Giovanni
War correspondent and author of THE MORNING THEY CAME FOR US
‘Jen Stout tells the story of her time covering war-torn Ukraine with clarity and a deep compassion for those whose lives are being destroyed. Her vivid descriptions and affinity with the places she visits mean we travel along with her, sharing in the sights and sounds as our understanding deepens. Written by a young woman who set off with little more than a love of the country and a determination to chart its fate, Night Train to Odesa also gives a powerful insight into what it’s like to go it alone in a conflict zone. A must-read for anyone interested in the impact of the Russian invasion.’
Dani Garavelli
Journalist and essayist
‘Jen Stout tells the story of her time covering war-torn Ukraine with clarity and a deep compassion for those whose lives are being destroyed. Her vivid descriptions and affinity with the places she visits mean we travel along with her, sharing in the sights and sounds as our understanding deepens. Written by a young woman who set off with little more than a love of the country and a determination to chart its fate, Night Train to Odesa also gives a powerful insight into what it’s like to go it alone in a conflict zone. A must-read for anyone interested in the impact of the Russian invasion.’
Dani Garavelli
Journalist and essayist
'... the words she writes convey such intense images and paint such vivid and empathetic pictures that the reader too experiences the deep, human connections she makes.'
Heather Stacey
STAND International Link
Dani Garavelli
Journalist and essayist
‘Jam-packed with vivid insight and empathy, journalism that’s full of heart.
Paraic O'Brien
Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Channel 4
‘Night Train to Odesa vividly brings to life the realities of Ukraine at war, in all its complex humanity and history. Jen Stout is everything you could want in a guide: generous, warm, perspicacious. Her writing fizzes with energy, passion and, above all, compassion for the characters she meets whose lives have been turned upside down by a conflict they never wanted yet are forced to live through’
Peter Geoghegan
Writer, broadcaster, and journalist
'Jen Stout is a wondrous young writer from the Shetland Islands, bursting with humanity, boundless curiosity and an unrelenting enthusiasm for life.
In Night Train to Odesa, she brings us her experience of wartime Ukraine, a land and a people she has come to love. Stout has a rare gift for rendering moments in time, and her descriptions of nature, season and landscape are beautifully etched, often hauntingly so. This is the work of a writer with an exciting future ahead of her.'
Jon Lee Anderson
Foreign correspondent and New Yorker writer
‘Jen Stout’s great achievement is to tell the stories of ordinary people in extraordinarily difficult and dangerous circumstances. Night Train to Odesa is by turns sad and inspiring – and unfailingly fascinating’
Dr James Rodgers
Author of ASSIGNMENT MOSCOW; journalist; lecturer at City University