The Ever-Twisting Thread: A gripping story of love and cruelty in the midst of Ukraine’s war

LONDON, UK 4th January - Against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, comes The Ever-Twisting Thread - a fictional account depicting life, love, and grief amongst gunfire and widescale devastation. In many military conflicts, territory is constantly lost and gained, making it hard to identify your enemy. However, if a neutral party strays into the middle of the chaos, all sides become potential enemies. 

In 2015, during the long-localised conflict that became a prelude to Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine. The conflict in eastern Ukraine is already a horrible fact of life. Russia has only officially invaded the Crimea, but total war already exists in Donbas. The novel tells the story of Stuart, an accidental hero trying to reunite with his long-estranged Russian journalist mother.

Despite being knocked off course by the inadvertent murder of an FSB officer, Stuart's new Russian girlfriend and he find themselves in an inescapable universe of constant violence - one which is only broken when Stuart is injured and finds himself in a hospital in Kiev. This marks the beginning of a long journey that takes him through the wild Caucasus mountains to the heart of Russia.

In discovering his mother, Stuart finds that she runs an organisation that makes him an even greater threat to both the Russian and western establishments. But is there a way out now that his enemies include both the FSB and MI6?

The Ever-Twisting Thread was directly inspired by the masterpiece "The Sheltering Sky" written by American novelist Paul Bowles. Author of The Ever-Twisting Thread, Robin Chater writes, “In my novel we have a literary thriller that contains a central quest where, unlike in The Sheltering Sky, the meaning is not a constant enigma, but eventually becomes all too clear.” The Ever-Twisting Thread offers readers an illuminating commentary on the political and societal issues at the centre of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. 

Although an established non-fiction writer and co-author of two successful works of fiction, The Ever-Twisting Thread marks Robin Chater’s first solo novel. Robin Chater has devoted much of his adult life to resolving industrial conflict, predicting economic trends and helping rid the world of all forms of gender and racial discrimination and harassment. This has included ten years as a Special Adviser to the European Commission.

The Ever-Twisting Thread by Robin Chater was published on January 2nd 2023 and is available on Kindle, paperback and hardback

For enquiries about the book and a free digital review copy please contact the author on thisdefining@gmail.com