‘No Country for Love’: Yaroslav Trofimov on the cost of survival in 1930s Ukraine

“No Country for Love”, now translated into French as “Ce pays qui n’aimait pas l’amour” is a novel based on real events written by Yaroslav Trofimov, who is also chief foreign-affairs correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. Trofimov, who was born in Kyiv, features a lead character based on his grandmother who grew up in Ukraine during the Holodomor – the famine imposed on the country in the 1930s that killed millions – and then the outbreak of World War II. For Trofimov, the book covers one of the most terrifying moments of the 20th century and also explains why the spirit of “never again” animates Ukraine in its fight today. He spoke to us in Perspective.