The Wizard of the Kremlin

THE TIMES BESTSELLER NOW A MAJOR FILM 'A riveting peek into how power actually works in Russia' David McCloskey, author of Moscow X 'A great novel, casting light on the creatures that crawl and slither behind the Kremlin's walls. Read it' John Sweeney, author of Killer in the Kremlin 'A fictional wandering through the dark corridors of the Kremlin' The Times, Biggest Books of the Season __________ They call him the Wizard of the Kremlin. Working at the heart of Russian power, the enigmatic Vadim Baranov-Putin's chief spin doctor-has used his background in experimental theatre and reality TV to turn the entire country into an avant-garde political stage. Here truth and lies, news and propaganda, have become indistinguishable. But Vadim is growing increasingly entangled in the dark secret workings of the regime he has helped build, and now he is desperate to get out... Propelling the reader from the fall of the Soviet Union to the invasion of Ukraine, this breathless story of politics and power has become an international sensation.

Giuliano da Empoli is an Italian and Swiss writer and political scientist living in France. He was once a senior advisor to Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. The Wizard of the Kremlin is his debut novel. It has sold more than half a million copies in France, where it also won the Grand Prix du Roman and was a finalist for the Goncourt Prize. It has since gone on to become an international bestseller, translated into thirty languages across the world and has been adapted for the screen, starring Jude Law and Paul Dano.