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No One Talks About the War: Travels in Ukraine During the War
Not yet published
Expected 17 Nov 26A powerful, offbeat narrative of encounters with ordinary Ukrainians living through war.
No One Talks About the War is built on everyday conversations, mainly between the author and people she meets. It is written from an extraordinary place at a crucial inflection point: Ukraine in the midst of a protracted fight for its very existence. These conversations are woven together as a journey across Ukraine, from the western regions, where relative peace hangs in the air, to the front lines, where life is measured in days and hours, exploring themes of language, history, and the steadfast commitment of a people facing an uncertain future.
No One Talks About the War is built on everyday conversations, mainly between the author and people she meets. It is written from an extraordinary place at a crucial inflection point: Ukraine in the midst of a protracted fight for its very existence. These conversations are woven together as a journey across Ukraine, from the western regions, where relative peace hangs in the air, to the front lines, where life is measured in days and hours, exploring themes of language, history, and the steadfast commitment of a people facing an uncertain future.
236 pages, Paperback
Expected publication November 17, 2026
About the author
Nina Kossman
18 books18 followersNina Kossman's work is animated by an interest in history and bilingualism. A writer and painter, she has exhibited her paintings internationally, and her writing has been published in a dozen languages, including French, Italian, Greek, Hebrew, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, German, Persian, Chinese, Bengali, and Japanese. She is the author of 12 books, spanning poetry, short prose, children's poetry, an anthology she edited for Oxford University Press, two volumes of translations of Marina Tsvetaeva's poetry, and a novel. Her English-language work has appeared in over ninety magazines and anthologies and has been translated into twelve languages. Her plays have been produced in the US, the UK, and Australia. She has received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, grants from the Onassis Foundation, the Foundation for Hellenic Culture, and Fundación Valparaíso, as well as the now-defunct UNESCO/PEN Short Story Award. She is a founding editor of EastWest Literary Forum, a bilingual magazine. Born in the former Soviet Union, she now lives in New York.
Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Nina-Kossman/e... .
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
Review of advance copy
I very much appreciated and enjoyed Nina Kossman’s book for it gave me a broader perspective and understanding of what is going on in Ukraine during this war that some people say won’t end. I have been corresponding with several friends there but No One Talks About the War has given me more of a down to earth feeling of what is going on.
The book’s flow makes it an easy read despite the subject. The way Kossman quotes the actual conversations she has with people she meets is entertaining and captures the characters she quotes. But also it is clear she really listens to people rather than insert her own ideas into the conversations.
I was impressed with how Kossman manages to portray the deeper subjects of the question of language affecting the war. Whether someone speaks Ukraine is an important characteristic. Even the history of the Jews in Ukraine is brought out, a significant subject that has often been covered up there.
When she is asked repetition of her background becomes a refrain—being from New York yet born in Moscow, that’s how she knows Russian; and occasionally, on a deeper note, that her mother was from Kharkiv and that she is Jewish and a number of her relatives died in the Holocaust.
The author has taken a trip to Ukraine a couple of years into the war to find out how it is affecting ordinary people. She even has some conflicts with authorities during her travels. How she could put herself in this situation? She could easily get killed. But she explains that she simply does not fear death.
A certain fearlessness is also reflected in the people she meets. Life goes on despite the bombing. More than one person says they believe the war will never end. The idea that the war is about profit also comes up often.
Yet so poignant is her observation: “ I arrived there from Kharkiv right after a rocket attack, and the image of the man holding a cat and a child in his arms, telling his wife not to worry about the stove, is enough to last a lifetime.”
The book’s flow makes it an easy read despite the subject. The way Kossman quotes the actual conversations she has with people she meets is entertaining and captures the characters she quotes. But also it is clear she really listens to people rather than insert her own ideas into the conversations.
I was impressed with how Kossman manages to portray the deeper subjects of the question of language affecting the war. Whether someone speaks Ukraine is an important characteristic. Even the history of the Jews in Ukraine is brought out, a significant subject that has often been covered up there.
When she is asked repetition of her background becomes a refrain—being from New York yet born in Moscow, that’s how she knows Russian; and occasionally, on a deeper note, that her mother was from Kharkiv and that she is Jewish and a number of her relatives died in the Holocaust.
The author has taken a trip to Ukraine a couple of years into the war to find out how it is affecting ordinary people. She even has some conflicts with authorities during her travels. How she could put herself in this situation? She could easily get killed. But she explains that she simply does not fear death.
A certain fearlessness is also reflected in the people she meets. Life goes on despite the bombing. More than one person says they believe the war will never end. The idea that the war is about profit also comes up often.
Yet so poignant is her observation: “ I arrived there from Kharkiv right after a rocket attack, and the image of the man holding a cat and a child in his arms, telling his wife not to worry about the stove, is enough to last a lifetime.”
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July 17, 2026What stayed with me most about No One Talks About the War was the way it shifts attention away from the larger political narratives of war and toward the people who are forced to live inside them every day. The conversations Nina Kossman shares feel powerful because they are not presented as dramatic speeches or carefully constructed historical accounts. Instead, they capture ordinary people trying to make sense of an extraordinary reality—people continuing their routines, remembering their pasts, worrying about the future, and finding ways to hold onto a sense of normal life.
I was especially struck by how much the book reveals through small conversations. A comment about language, a memory from childhood, a reflection on family, or a simple description of daily life can carry the weight of decades of history and identity. The book shows that war is not only experienced through battles and headlines; it is also lived through conversations at kitchen tables, moments of uncertainty, and the choices people make about how to continue when everything around them has changed.
The journey across Ukraine also gave the book a unique emotional quality. Moving from areas where life appears more peaceful to places closer to the front lines creates a powerful contrast between different realities existing within the same country. What I appreciated most was the author’s willingness to listen rather than speak for the people she encounters. Their voices remain at the center, allowing readers to understand the complexity of a nation through the experiences of those who know it most intimately.
By the end, I found myself thinking less about war as an abstract event and more about the individuals who carry its consequences. No One Talks About the War is a reminder that history is made up of personal stories, and that understanding a conflict also means understanding the hopes, fears, memories, and resilience of the people living through it.
I was especially struck by how much the book reveals through small conversations. A comment about language, a memory from childhood, a reflection on family, or a simple description of daily life can carry the weight of decades of history and identity. The book shows that war is not only experienced through battles and headlines; it is also lived through conversations at kitchen tables, moments of uncertainty, and the choices people make about how to continue when everything around them has changed.
The journey across Ukraine also gave the book a unique emotional quality. Moving from areas where life appears more peaceful to places closer to the front lines creates a powerful contrast between different realities existing within the same country. What I appreciated most was the author’s willingness to listen rather than speak for the people she encounters. Their voices remain at the center, allowing readers to understand the complexity of a nation through the experiences of those who know it most intimately.
By the end, I found myself thinking less about war as an abstract event and more about the individuals who carry its consequences. No One Talks About the War is a reminder that history is made up of personal stories, and that understanding a conflict also means understanding the hopes, fears, memories, and resilience of the people living through it.
September 26, 2026
What stayed with me most after reading Nina Kossman’s No One Talks About the War was the paradox of its title: no one talks about the war, yet the war speaks through everyone. Born of the months Kossman spent traveling through Ukraine as a volunteer, the book is a literary mosaic assembled from a polyphony of voices: cab drivers, passengers, shopkeepers, refugees, soldiers, and strangers encountered along the way. Her interlocutors seldom address the war directly, yet it surfaces constantly in their grievances, jokes, prejudices, contradictions, and even their silences. The war has permeated everything.
War releases destructive power, reducing order to chaos: it shatters homes, histories, languages, and lives. Kossman’s creative task begins among the fragments left behind. She gathers the scattered voices, restores their severed connections, and synthesizes them into a coherent human picture, allowing their dissonance to become, in her hands, its own form of order. That is the achievement of this book—and anyone who wants to see the true human face of this war should read it.
War releases destructive power, reducing order to chaos: it shatters homes, histories, languages, and lives. Kossman’s creative task begins among the fragments left behind. She gathers the scattered voices, restores their severed connections, and synthesizes them into a coherent human picture, allowing their dissonance to become, in her hands, its own form of order. That is the achievement of this book—and anyone who wants to see the true human face of this war should read it.
Review of advance copy
Drawing on her travels in Ukraine (for seven months in 2023), Nina Kossman has written a resonant, soulful book. I’ve read No One Talks About the War twice (so far)—once you pick this book up, it’s very hard to put down—and I recommend this work to all readers.
What’s told here is told largely from the interstices of her travels—a series of episodes from the in-between moments, chance encounters when conversation may be unexpected or unbidden or both. Here, in this work, those moments become opportunities to watch and hear about lives in war-time Ukraine as they are.
Nina Kossman’s interlocutors occupy center stage in No One Talks About the War, and her keen eye for detail and unobtrusive narration of the encounters allow the reader to experience the conversations at very close range. All the interlocutors—no matter how temperamental or generous or moody or reflective or abrasive the individuals may appear—are treated with equanimity. Each contributes something. And, though not necessarily spoken, some central concerns like identity, other distant wars ,displacement and “home” are never far from the surface.
Strikingly, in her introduction to the volume, Kossman describes the various (and sometimes divergent) stories of war-time as “a kind of chorus.” To feel how apt a description “chorus” may be, you’ll just have to read this capacious and courageous work.
—Tarcie
What’s told here is told largely from the interstices of her travels—a series of episodes from the in-between moments, chance encounters when conversation may be unexpected or unbidden or both. Here, in this work, those moments become opportunities to watch and hear about lives in war-time Ukraine as they are.
Nina Kossman’s interlocutors occupy center stage in No One Talks About the War, and her keen eye for detail and unobtrusive narration of the encounters allow the reader to experience the conversations at very close range. All the interlocutors—no matter how temperamental or generous or moody or reflective or abrasive the individuals may appear—are treated with equanimity. Each contributes something. And, though not necessarily spoken, some central concerns like identity, other distant wars ,displacement and “home” are never far from the surface.
Strikingly, in her introduction to the volume, Kossman describes the various (and sometimes divergent) stories of war-time as “a kind of chorus.” To feel how apt a description “chorus” may be, you’ll just have to read this capacious and courageous work.
—Tarcie
Review of advance copy received from Author
Vladimir Sorokin once said that the best literature about wars is written long after wars are over, citing "War and Peace" and "Life and Fate" as examples. Nina Kossman's "No One Talks About the War" may just defy that characterization. She takes the reader inside the mindset of ordinary individuals, ordinary situations, and ordinary dialogues in Ukraine. The result is not so much the horror of war itself, but the expectation of horror, as if the train has just arrived at Auschwitz, but no one truly knows what to expect a few hours later.
Review of advance copy received from Author
In this well written, personal book, part travel diary, part memoir, part journalistic set of interviews, Nina Kossman goes to Ukraine from her home in the United States during the second year of the Ukrainian-Russian war to volunteer on the front but also to see the country where her mother and grandparents were born, and importantly, to speak to its inhabitants. Wherever she goes people have opinions and when questioned are brutally honest about how the war is or is not affecting them, and of the corruption of the government - a longstanding issue from way before Zelenskyy became President - as well as the profits they think will be gained by others than the Ukrainian people by dragging out the conflict.
Everyday people talk about going on with their daily lives without paying attention to air raid sirens going off. Soldiers speak of how people think of them as dumb country boys since they have neither the means nor education to purchase nor obtain or a deferment from mandatory military service. Women emerge from bombed buildings to go to the pump to get water since the buildings don’t have working plumbing, electricity, or at times, all 4 walls.
Kossman is not a journalist like Svetlana Alexievich, the latter of whom completely steps aside and whose work I find disjointed because all is in the voice of the interviewees without much if any exposition. Rather, Kossman is right there, introspectively letting us see how she thinks through whether she should say something about her own life and history, deciding how much she should tell these inquisitive people about her having been born a Jew in the Soviet Union before it was Russia, the current aggressor; that her mother was born in Ukraine; that 3 of her 4 grandparents were Ukranian Jews and of the massive losses of her Ukranian family including grandparents and over 20 relatives during the Holocaust.
There is a fair share of bureaucratic snafus - from being detained by guards on trains and buses, attempting to purchase tickets for transportation; even figuring out how she can get to the front and volunteer because at one point she is told she needs a specific tactical medical course certificate which actually turns out to be a self-defense combat course from which the instructor turns her away, saying she is too small.
Everywhere fear looms: fear of losing one’s home, life, loved ones, livelihood and the uncertainty of how it will all end. And yet life goes on in as usual a manner as it can. Throughout, Kossman is the observer with a steady heart and mind, fearless and calm in situations where I think I’d be very anxious, writing a unique and beautifully wrought book about a difficult and tragic situation which as yet has no resolution.
Everyday people talk about going on with their daily lives without paying attention to air raid sirens going off. Soldiers speak of how people think of them as dumb country boys since they have neither the means nor education to purchase nor obtain or a deferment from mandatory military service. Women emerge from bombed buildings to go to the pump to get water since the buildings don’t have working plumbing, electricity, or at times, all 4 walls.
Kossman is not a journalist like Svetlana Alexievich, the latter of whom completely steps aside and whose work I find disjointed because all is in the voice of the interviewees without much if any exposition. Rather, Kossman is right there, introspectively letting us see how she thinks through whether she should say something about her own life and history, deciding how much she should tell these inquisitive people about her having been born a Jew in the Soviet Union before it was Russia, the current aggressor; that her mother was born in Ukraine; that 3 of her 4 grandparents were Ukranian Jews and of the massive losses of her Ukranian family including grandparents and over 20 relatives during the Holocaust.
There is a fair share of bureaucratic snafus - from being detained by guards on trains and buses, attempting to purchase tickets for transportation; even figuring out how she can get to the front and volunteer because at one point she is told she needs a specific tactical medical course certificate which actually turns out to be a self-defense combat course from which the instructor turns her away, saying she is too small.
Everywhere fear looms: fear of losing one’s home, life, loved ones, livelihood and the uncertainty of how it will all end. And yet life goes on in as usual a manner as it can. Throughout, Kossman is the observer with a steady heart and mind, fearless and calm in situations where I think I’d be very anxious, writing a unique and beautifully wrought book about a difficult and tragic situation which as yet has no resolution.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Nina Kossman is a seasoned travel writer. I enjoy reading her travel adventures and particularly stories about characters she encounters on the road. I was full of anticipation starting this travelogue of hers and I received far more than I expected. The thing is that Nina is a master of understated narration from seemingly naive and bewildered observer. And she is very observant, and curious and she does not beat around the bush getting to the gist of the vignette or story she is telling us. Her voice is the voice of a stranger in a strange land conducting seemingly straightforward reportage about strange and unusual places, people and situations. And what can be stranger than to find in self inside of the war torn country? Nina is a master of reporting dialogue. She meets people and reports their conversation practically verbatim. She does not comment, she lets her interlocutors express themselves, she shows what she sees and she report what she hears. And this seemingly simple approach turns ger book into a page turner. This is not what you expect from travelogue, but this is what you get. And her writing is seculant.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
No One Talks About the War is not just a war memoir, it feels like a deeply human journey through fear, memory, identity, displacement, and survival. Nina Kossman writes with an intimate observational style that makes every conversation feel painfully real and emotionally alive. What makes this book powerful is that it avoids dramatic sensationalism and instead captures the quiet psychological weight of war through ordinary people, buses, train stations, temporary homes, strangers, and uncomfortable conversations. The writing feels intelligent, reflective, and emotionally layered, especially in the way it explores guilt, cultural identity, trauma, and moral complexity without forcing simplistic answers. The atmosphere is immersive throughout, and the author’s ability to turn casual interactions into philosophical reflections is genuinely impressive. This is the kind of book that stays in your mind long after you finish reading because it reminds readers that wars are not experienced only on battlefields, but inside conversations, memories, and everyday human lives.
Review of advance copy received from Author
This Nina Cossman's book, No One Talks about the War: Travels in Ukraine During the War, is a must-read for anyone who not only cares about the war in Ukraine, but who just want to be informed how regular Ukrainians feel about it. The author's very deed of coming as a volunteer to help the people of the country where her ancestors were born is remarkable by itself. Reading the book, I felt that it's me traveling in war-time country and talking to every person I encounter. The book has answered all the questions I ever had reading American press coverage of the war. Since many Americans care about the outcome of that war and the future of that part of the world, they should grab the copy of the book as soon as possible.
Review of advance copy received from Author
The imperative read of Nina Kossman:
No One Talks About The War,
Travels in Ukraine during the war
Open Ends Press (available at Amazon).
The book, No One Talks About The War, brings new insight into a war the author is by family history.
She brings insight into understanding the language difficulties, and the history of both sides and the conflict.
Nina Kossman shows the skill of questioning citizens, exposing their feelings on the Russian invasion. There are so many levels of excellence in this work that it would be unwise if you do not read it.
Find a copy, read it and it will make a difference to your understanding of this conflict.
No One Talks About The War,
Travels in Ukraine during the war
Open Ends Press (available at Amazon).
The book, No One Talks About The War, brings new insight into a war the author is by family history.
She brings insight into understanding the language difficulties, and the history of both sides and the conflict.
Nina Kossman shows the skill of questioning citizens, exposing their feelings on the Russian invasion. There are so many levels of excellence in this work that it would be unwise if you do not read it.
Find a copy, read it and it will make a difference to your understanding of this conflict.
Review of advance copy received from Author
A brave book in that the safe opinion or the mainstream opinion about the war does not align with the nuance and strong emotions of those on the ground. A book to get a firsthand account of what was happening in 2023 in Ukraine, though, with rockets hitting the country harder now than ever, it is hard to say how much stronger those opinions have become. And Nina’s own voice shines throughout the book.
Review of advance copy received from Author
This is Nina Kossman at her best: sharply observant, no-nonsense, no-prejudice notes; funny and poignant, bitter and loving prose that grips you before you can realize what happened, and carries you along on an unlikely journey.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews