You Don't Know What War Is

Everyone knows the word ‘war’. But very few understand what it truly means. When you find you have to face it, you feel totally lost, walled in by fright and despair. Until you’ve been there, you don’t know what war is.

This is the gripping and moving diary of young Ukrainian refugee Yeva Skalietska. It follows twelve days in Ukraine that changed 12-year-old Yeva’s life forever. She was woken in the early hours to the terrifying sounds of shelling. Russia had invaded Ukraine, and her beloved Kharkiv home was no longer the safe haven it should have been. It was while she was forced to seek shelter in a damp, cramped basement that Yeva decided to write down her story. And it is a story the world needs to hear.

Yeva captured the nation’s heart when she was featured on Channel 4 News with her granny as they fled Ukraine for Dublin. In You Don’t Know What War Is, Yeva records what is happening hour-by-hour as she seeks safety and travels from Kharkiv to Dublin. Each eye-opening diary entry is supplemented by personal photographs, excerpts of messages between Yeva and her friends and daily headlines from around the world, while three beautifully detailed maps (by Kharkiv-native Olga Shtonda) help the reader track Yeva and her granny’s journey. You Don’t Know What War Is is a powerful insight into what conflict is like through the eyes of a child and an essential read for adults and older children alike.

Published in association with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, with a foreword by Michael Morpurgo.
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‘Everyone, absolutely everyone, should read it. You will love Yeva’ Christy Lefteri, No.1 international bestselling author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo
‘Yeva speaks a truth all of us must listen to’ Michael Morpurgo, award-winning author of War Horse
‘Exhilarating, shattering, heartbreaking, brilliant’ Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author
‘The most important story of our times’ Viv Groskop, podcaster and writer
‘A herstory of Ukraine’ Olia Hercules, Ukrainian chef and food writer