Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert is pulling her new novel from publication after Ukrainian readers expressed “anger, sorrow, disappointment and pain” about her decision to set a book in Russia.
Gilbert’s The Snow Forest is a historical novel set in Siberia, and follows a family of religious Russian fundamentalists who have lived isolated and undetected for 44 years since retreating from the world in the 1930s.
When they are discovered in 1980 by a team of Soviet geologists, a scholar and linguist is sent to the family’s home to bridge the chasm between modern existence and their ancient, snow forest life.
Gilbert announced just last week that the book would be released in February 2024.
However, today she released a video statement on her Instagram account, saying she was “removing the book from its publication schedule”.
She said over the course of the weekend, after announcing the book, she had “received an enormous, massive outpouring of reactions and responses from my Ukrainian readers expressing anger, sorrow, disappointment and pain about the fact that I would choose to release a book into the world right now, any book, no matter what the subject of it is, that is set in Russia”.
“And I want to say that I have heard these messages and read these messages and I respect them,” she continued. “And as a result I’m making a course correction and I’m removing the book from its publication schedule. It is not the time for this book to be published.
“And I do not want to add any harm to a group of people who have already experienced and who are all continuing to experience grievous and extreme harm.”
Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and the countries have now been at war for almost 500 days. Ukraine’s top military command said on Monday that its forces were engaged in heavy battles in frontline hotspots.
Gilbert said that she had “other book projects that I’m working on and I’ve made a decision to turn my attention to working on those now”.
Literary agents and authors told the Observer that an appetite for escapist fiction in Russia had led to enticing offers for foreign rights. But many authors felt it was not right to take Russian money while the war with Ukraine was ongoing.
In addition, authors including Linwood Barclay, Stephen King and Joe Abercrombie have previously publicly said they will not be renewing book contracts in Russia because of the war.
