In the Shadows is a collection of topical stories offering different perspectives that transport the reader.

The Impersonator tells the story of an ordinary Russian man who gets a breakthrough posing as Putin. Trans-Atlantic follows a young Russian-American couple after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, The Ice Cream Woman relates the slow awakening of a loyal citizen whose son is arrested in the protests of summer 2019 in Moscow, and Bicycle Summer is set during the exodus of Syrian refugees seeking shelter in Europe. In The Cockroach, a Chinese entomologist and his wife see their attempt to be patriots go horribly wrong. Flight takes a tenser turn, when a North Korean diplomat on his way home to Pyongyang gets stuck in transit and contemplates escape. Illumination examines the unfolding relationship between a French expat manager’s wife and a local man in Armenia. The title story, In the Shadows describes a divided future world, in which a woman and a teenage boy start looking for an exit. Farewell to Ada, written in 2022, brings together wars past and present.

A rich palette of protagonists with all their human frailties explore freedom, personal and political, in this collection of stories offering insight into lives overshadowed by the starker shades of media headlines.