Riding Through War and Peace

'Pugh’s adventures in rural Russia and the personalities that he brings to life are irresistible.’ -- Miranda Seymour, novelist, biographer and critic
‘There is something romantic and dashing about the way the author trots and gallops out of Russia and Eastern Europe. The Patrick Leigh Fermor of A Time of Gifts would have applauded and envied this journey ...This wonderful landscape - of flower meadows, monasteries, opera houses, churches, Tolstoyan battlefields - is now wholly denied to us because of an unnecessary and egregious Ukrainian war. Yet here it is still, captured for our inspection in Pugh’s prose.’ -- Roger Lewis, author of The Life and Death of Peter Sellers and Erotic Vagrancy: Everything About Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor
'A ride across the wide heartlands of Russia, that allows us to share the anarchic humour and energy of its peoples, the scent of its complex history and the stench of high politics.' -- Barnaby Rogerson, author and publisher of Eland Books
'An incredible journey into a forgotten world of wonder – and privilege for some – now lost to the ravages of war. Michael Pugh’s evocative story captures the moment when this kaleidoscope region began to warp under the dark forces of Putin’s imperialist reach.' -- Catherine Belton, journalist and author of Putin's People: How the KGB took back Russia and then took on the West