Until 2022, Ukrainian Zhenya Berezhnaya taught creative writing, hosted a podcast about literature, and wrote fairy tales for adults. Her fantasy dilogy “The Thorn Witch” — under the name of Evgenia Spaschenko — was published by the Russian publishing house AST.

On February 24, 2022, Zhenya woke up to a call from her family in Kharkov, packed an anxious backpack, put two cats in carriers, and went down to the first bomb shelter in her life. This episode marks the beginning of “(Not) About War” — a novel-testimony about sirens and shelling, about the betrayal of loved ones and the help of strangers, about the experience of refugeehood and finding a new home. The book, in Zhenya’s own words, “is not about war, but about people” — an honest and deeply personal story of overcoming trauma.