Independence Square by A D Miller (Harvill Secker £14.99)
This is a swift-moving, engaging new novel by an author previously short-listed for the Booker Prize. Its focus is on the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. It is told mainly from the point of view of a middle-aged British diplomat stationed in Kiev at the time. His surreptitious aid to dissidents in Independence Square assures that they will, at least superficially, temporarily, succeed. The cost to his career, however, is fatal.
The scene in that city, in those bleak days of autumn 2014, is etched in with the skill of a naturalist painter. Against it is contrasted a somewhat less vivid London on a summer’s day a few years later. Here, the disgraced diplomat, abandoned by wife and daughter as well as career, tries to piece together what led to his downfall. The moveable parts in a post-Soviet world order are painted in shady relief.
We encounter bit players from the activist street — an ex-soldier, his would-be “honey trap” sister — as well as intrigants of a semi-involved West — an ambitious embassy publicity officer, a security chief, a self-interested media high-flyer. Their behaviours, feckless or sly, have consequences.
