I loved this rollercoaster of a ride into a corrupt, fictitious country that feels only too hideously real. It's pretty funny too, and has a big heart. Highly recommended. – Deborah Moggach, Number One bestselling author of THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL

'You wouldn't get this sort of behaviour in better countries, Ellis felt. In his mind he saw the exquisite civilisation of an English city centre on a Saturday night. The calm Tudor pubs, with their motherly barmaids and folded newspapers on the counter, library-quiet save for the occasional clink as halves of ale met. Did such countries ever think about here? What did they see? What did their satellites among the stars report when looking down at this powerless little mess? Was it all just darkness to them?'

Ellis Dau dreams of the West – of London, New York and Ashford, Kent. But he is growing up in Kyrzbekistan, a secretive nation where revolution barely makes the news.

Following his expulsion from school, Ellis is sent to work with his father. His father is editor of The Chronicle, the last bastion of free speech in their strange, strange land. And it is under threat: from heavy-handed policemen, mysterious revolutionaries, and the resident Russian billionaire.

As Ellis navigates his collapsing, blacked-out city – and his feelings for the oligarch's beautiful daughter - he realises that some things are worth fighting for. But can he save his family and the newspaper fuelled only by youth, grain spirit and unrequited love?

‘I loved this rollercoaster of a ride into a corrupt, fictitious country that feels only too hideously real. It’s pretty funny too, and has a big heart. Highly recommended’ Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel