The latest addition to my website is Igor Kaczurowsky‘s Шлях невідомого (Because Deserters Are Immortal). The book is set in Ukraine in late 1941 when the Germans are invading the Soviet Union. Our hero is Serhiy Remez who is not a keen supporter of the Soviet Union as most of his family has been murdered by them. He seeks to avoid fighting but is caught and dragooned into the home guard, defending ghe city with dilapidated weapons against the German tanks. He soon finds out that the Germans are no nicer than the Soviets and much of the book tells of his hair-raising adventures to flee the Soviets, the Germans and the partisans. He is captured a few times but manages to escape . He is also shot at several times but manages to survive. He travels through the snow to his native village, where he had not been for many years, meeting various people on the way from a naked lady and an ex-girlfriend to locals who can be kind but also vicious. Kaczurowsky does not spare us the details and we can only marvel at how he managed to survive.