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£9.99
Published
28 May 2013
Paperback
9781908699220
Ebook
9781908699237
Press Release
Coming soon.
 

‘Who am I? An alcoholic and a tramp. But I am no white raven. Our alcoholics outnumber the populations of France and Spain combined. And that’s only the men. If you count women you have to add on all Scandinavia and throw in Monaco for good measure.’

For forty years Ivan Petrov careered, stumbled, staggered and rampaged all over the vast Soviet empire. Homeless (an illegal condition in the communist utopia), in and out of prison camps, almost always drunk, and with a gift for hilariously sending up the tragic absurdities of Soviet life, Ivan was a real-life Svejk. This is his unforgettable story, as told to Caroline Walton just before his death.

The text is complemented by twelve original illustrations by Natalia Vetrova.

Old Street Publishing Smashed in the USSR Paperback

‘Who am I? An alcoholic and a tramp. But I am no white raven. Our alcoholics outnumber the populations of France and Spain combined. And that’s only the men. If you count women you have to add on all Scandinavia and throw in Monaco for good measure.’

For forty years Ivan Petrov careered, stumbled, staggered and rampaged all over the vast Soviet empire. Homeless (an illegal condition in the communist utopia), in and out of prison camps, almost always drunk, and with a gift for hilariously sending up the tragic absurdities of Soviet life, Ivan was a real-life Svejk. This is his unforgettable story, as told to Caroline Walton just before his death.

The text is complemented by twelve original illustrations by Natalia Vetrova.

 9.99
 
 

'Mind-blowing adventures… an extraordinary memoir'
—Big Issue

 
 
  • 'Brilliant… centres on the life of Ivan Petrov, a homeless drunk whose natural wit and honesty paints a colourful but brutal depiction of his former life in Russia.'
    —Raven Crime Reads
  • 'Funny, moving and terrible… sums up all the absurdity of life in the Soviet Union'
    —Society for Co-operation in Russian and Soviet Studies
 
 

Ivan Petrov was born in the one- factory town of Chapaevsk in the Urals in 1934. His father was shot by Stalin and he was brought up by his mother and stepfather. He became an alcoholic in the 1950s, and drank his way around the USSR until the 1990s, when he moved to the United Kingdom.
Caroline Walton is an English author and journalist with a particular interest in Russia. Her most recent book is THE BESIEGED: Forgotten Voices of the Siege of Leningrad.