Skip to main content

Happy New Year!


Happy New Year!


Happy New Year to Dark Shadows Readers!
We would like to wish all readers of Dark Shadows a very happy 2020! Dark Shadows, published by Bloomsbury-owned I.B. Tauris, has had a great year. It began with author Joanna Lillis’s successful North American book tour in early 2019, following the launch of Dark Shadows in the UK in late 2018, and continued with some great reviews of Dark Shadows in the international press. Check out the Spectator review by Peter Frankopan, historian and best-selling author of The Silk Roads and The New Silk Roads, who describes Dark Shadows as “astute, refreshing and revelatory”, the rave review in the Times Literary Supplement (subscribers only), and the write-up in Literary Review, which found that author Joanna Lillis “refreshes our knowledge of important events in Kazakhstan’s history” and “provides a vivid, interview-led report of Kazakhstan’s stunted human rights record”.
The first edition has sold out and we are now into our second print run. You can find Dark Shadows in all good bookshops in the UK, US and other countries, or order online from Bloomsbury or Amazon’s UK and US websites, including in Kindle format (or e-book pdf format on the publisher’s site). Watch this space for news about plans for a paperback!

After a turbulent year in Kazakhstan following the resignation of its long-serving leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, now is a great time to read this compelling portrait of the country, with its deep dive into contemporary politics, history, culture and identity told through the voices of ordinary people.

As 2019 ends and 2020 approaches, we thank all readers past, present and future for their interest, and wish everyone a very Happy New Year!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Zheltoksan: Kazakhstan's Bloody December Revisited in History Today

This December's copy of History Today features an article, Kazakhstan's Bloody December , by Joanna Lillis, author of Dark Shadows:Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan, that looks back at 1986's Zheltoksan (December in Kazakh) demonstrations in what was then Alma-Ata (present-day Almaty) in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (now Kazakhstan). The article takes an in-depth look at the events that shook the Soviet Union three decades ago. The anniversary of the demonstrations is on 16 December, which symbolically became Kazakhstan's independence day from the Soviet Union, which it left in 1991. To read more about this topic, dig into your copy of Dark Shadows.

Dark Shadows: American Tour 2019

Joanna Lillis, the author of the best-selling Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan , will be embarking of a tour of the USA following the book's North American publication on 30 January. Dark Shadows spotted at Niagara Falls, Canadian side. The tour begins in Tucson, Arizona on February 4, when Joanna Lillis will address students from the University of Arizona on Building a Career in Journalism Abroad at 12.00pm in the UA book store. The tour arrives in Washington DC on February 6. On that day, the author will be addressing the RAND Corporation  (this is a private event) . On February 7, Joanna Lillis will be  speaking at an event hosted by George Washington University's Central Asia Program, where she will present  Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan . It will be held in the  Voesar Conference Room, Suite 412 and it starts at 4.00pm (this event is open to all).  On February 8, she will be speaking at a round table on...

Dark Shadows: In the Press 5: Here Come the Reviews...

Check out the latest reviews of  Dark Shadows  in the international media! The book has recently been reviewed by two renowned historians, Peter Frankopan and Alexander Morrison, both of Oxford University.  Dark Shadows meets The Silk Roads - Joanna Lillis meets Peter Frankopan in Oxford in November 2018 Writing in  The Spectator , Peter Frankopan described  Dark Shadows as “ astute, refreshing and revelatory”, and also “surprisingly tender, showing not only [Lillis’s] affection but her care in trying to make sense of a country that needs to be understood warts and all”.  “She introduces a cast of characters one could not make up, from an Old Believer living in the north of the country to a militant atheist, whose grim convictions are not entirely appealing,” he continues. “We meet those suffering from the effects of Soviet-era nuclear experiments and children infected with HIV in a blood scandal, whose dignity in the face of injustice and trag...