Night Train To Odesa

Covering the Human Cost of Russia's War

"an antidote to the cynicism of war"
"jam-packed with vivid insight and empathy"

" a powerful insight into what it’s like to go it alone in a conflict zone."

Jen Stout at St Andrew's Book Festival London 30 Nov 2024 - credit Roger Green.jpg

BBC Radio 4 Book Of The Week | Winner of First Book of the Year at Scotland’s National Book Awards | Highland Book Prize 2024 winner

"‘Night Train to Odesa’ is a remedy for reading about wartime despair... Stout’s openness about her preparations for traveling deeper into Ukraine, and her candidness about moments of personal vulnerability when speaking to Ukrainians about the ways in which they are victims of Russia’s war, is both admirable and vital to the growing literature on wartime reporting."

Kyiv Independent

About Night Train to Odesa

When Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, millions of lives changed in an instant.

Millions of people were suddenly on the move.

In this great flow of people was a reporter from the north of Scotland. Jen Stout left Moscow abruptly, ending up on a border post in southeast Romania, from where she began to cover the human cost of Russian aggression.

Her first-hand, vivid reporting brought the war home to readers in Scotland as she reported from front lines and cities across Ukraine.

Stories from the night trains, birthday parties, military hospitals and bunkers: stories from the ground, from a writer with a deep sense of empathy, always seeking to understand the bigger picture, the big questions of identity, history, hopes and fears in this war in Europe.

Night Train to Odesa begins in Russia and continues to focus on people, relationships and individuals in Ukraine.

It is the account of a young female reporter with no institutional backup or security. Both in language and themes, it is accessible and highly readable.

Read It Now

"Jen Stout's heart-seizing account of Ukraine at war brings us that nation's living presence like no other book. She puts across not just the tragedy but the astonishing vigour and colour of a people determined to live generously and joyfully under bombardment. 'Night Train' is three-dimensional: Jen Stout's book is not just a report of darkened cities and piteous survivors, but a highly personal journal of one young Scot's first experiences of war. As a freelance journalist, speaking Russian and learning Ukrainian, she found vivid friendships near the front line and in Ukraine's magnificent battered but majestic cities. Not all of those friends survived. It's not just Jen's reporting but the way she chronicles her own turbulent feelings which make 'Night Train to Odesa' so moving and unforgettable."

Neal Ascherson, journalist, author, expert on central and eastern Europe

Byline Festival 2024. Credit_ Ashley Greb

Meet the Author

Jen Stout

Jen Stout is a journalist, writer, and radio producer from Scotland, frequently working in Ukraine.

Originally from Shetland she has lived in Germany and Russia.

Her empathetic and vivid coverage on the deportations in Kharkiv region was shortlisted for an Amnesty Media Award.

Her first book, Night Train to Odesa, was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, and won the Saltire Society First Book of the Year Award.

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