I am a Chechen! [Paperback]

"This unique mixture of lyricism, legend, memoir and fiction captures the sorrows of his nation... Tragedy is everywhere here, but the most powerful element is the sheer beauty of the land and the singularity of its people. Excellent."
—The Times

"Powerful stuff... flashes of brilliance."
—Independent

The first compelling voice in literary fiction to emerge from the Chechen War.

I Am a Chechen! offers a lyrical fusion of exotic legends, stories and memories of Chechnya: a land of wondrous beauty, site of genocides past and present, and the author's ancestral home.

Haunted by memories of the land he deserted, Sadülaev tells the stories of those who stayed behind. He brings back to life his friends -- revisiting their first loves, their passion for rock music, their quests for martyrdom. And he immerses us in the intoxicating beauty of his homeland's mountains, blossoms and the flocks of migratory swallows that fill its skies.

I Am a Chechen! is an intensely personal journey through the carnage of the war, exploring the pain, the challenge, and above all the meaning of being a Chechen.

GERMAN SADÜLAEV was born in 1973 and grew up in the Chechen village of Shali. At sixteen, before the start of the first Chechen war, he left to study law in St Petersburg. He lives there now. He is the author of five books, of which I Am a Chechen! is the second. Sadulaev's work makes highly uncomfortable reading for those in power, and has unleashed heated debate in Russia; it has been shortlisted for the Russian Booker Prize, twice for the National Bestseller award, and has won the Eureka Prize.