I am actively seeking a publisher for my English translation of the Ukrainian writer Anna Bugayeva’s novel ‘I am Your Enemy’. Anna herself holds the relevant foreign rights.

Anna Bugayeva is a trade finance specialist and a published author. Her first novel ‘Once when I disappeared’ (original title Одного разу, коли я зникла) was published in Ukraine in 2021, and her second ‘All will be Paris’ (‘Усе буде Париж’) in 2022. ‘All will be Paris’ was longlisted (with 13 other titles) for the Ukrainian BBC ‘Book Of The Year’ award, and is now a best seller.

At the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Anna and her family left Kyiv for the countryside. Even there, they found themselves in the path of the advancing Russian army. The daily stress of bombing and explosions, and planes and helicopters constantly flying at rooftop level, was aggravated by a real risk of meeting Russian reconnaissance groups face to face – as evidenced by the discovery one day of a Russian military map in the forest not far from their house. So in April 2022 Anna and her son moved to London, where they have since been living and where her son has been able to settle into a local school. Anna’s husband and parents stayed in Kyiv.

Anna now divides her time between writing, caring for her son, and working as trade finance analyst for the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in London.

I am Your Enemy

I am Your Enemy is based on Anna’s personal experience and real stories of people affected by Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Anna’s first two novels established her as a writer of engaging, ‘light’ (Anna’s own word) books targeted primarily at women readers. ‘I Am Your Enemy’ begins as if it will fit snugly into this tradition – and then delivers a real punch as 24 February 2022 arrives, and the Russian army begins its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The novel’s main character, Zoya, is bombed out of her own home, but remains trapped in occupied territory. This is a character-driven drama in which a weary, egocentric businesswoman finds within herself the resources first to take care of a young girl left parentless in occupied territory, then to escape the Russian forces and flee to England, and finally to decide, with the war still raging, to return to Ukraine.

Anna’s other books