This is an improbable but true story of incredible courage, heartbreaking loss (Voznesensk's defence wasn't a bloodless one) and sheer bloody-mindedness. This short punchy account of a few days in the now interminable invasion by Putin of Ukraine is fascinating on many levels. On the morning of Wednesday 2 March 2022, an armoured personnel carrier clattered into her yard, knocking over her favourite pear tree. A Small, Stubborn Town : Life, death and defiance in Ukraine – ‘The mesmerising story of how in the face of a mighty army, ordinary people can say "No.

In a poignant scene, a Ukrainian mother, Anna, collected what was left of her 21-year-old son Serhii, torn apart by a tank shell. Harding’s fine book points to why Ukraine has outperformed expectations in Washington and London, continues to fight on, and may just win this 21st-century David v Goliath struggle.When Russian troops approached the small farming town of Voznesensk, they were not expecting a battle. Philippe Sands'We are touched by the courage and dignity of Andrew Harding's characters - qualities that the author must surely possess in equal measure. But at the core of it, it's a very gentle and kind book in a panorama of events that are decidedly short on gentleness and kindness, and you got to appreciate that. Their weapons were a box of grenades, AK-47s and NLAW anti-armour missiles, supplied by the British. A bunch of pot-bellied, tracksuit-wearing, down-on-their-luck guys, aka territorial defense volunteers in the full-scale war, stand over a makeshift trench at the outskirts of their tiny town.

Photograph: State Emergency Service Of Ukraine/Reuters View image in fullscreen A building in Voznesensk destroyed by a Russian missile. One of them shouted to the Ukrainian volunteers sitting in it and out of ammunition: “Guys, we’re with you. If the advancing Russian army crosses the bridge in their town fast, it might then cut off the main route from Kyiv to Odesa, which Won't Be Good (an understatement).I'm the author of "These Are Not Gentle People," a true-crime novel set in South Africa and published in South Africa, the UK and the Netherlands. Each street-level detail illuminates a bigger truth: why Ukraine succeeded in resisting Russia’s shock and awe onslaught last year, and how Moscow’s brazen attempt to subjugate an independent nation failed. Andrey Kurkov (Ukrainian author of “Grey Bees”): It would be wonderful if the story told in this beautiful little book were the author's invention.