‘I didn’t know I'd be writing about my grandfather’

On her Booker-longlisted novel about the invasion of Ukraine, the marriage ‘industry’, and the extinction of snails

- Mohammad Farhan

‘What was the genesis of this novel? Before Russia's full-scale invasion, there were indeed “romance tours” to Ukraine which brought in Western men sold on the promise that they would find a docile bride “untainted” by feminism / modernity. I wanted to write a novel about the men (the “bachelors”) and women (the “brides”) who took part in this industry —and not for reasons one might expect.

Did you decide to write about the war after the invasion? How did the Russian invasion impact you?