On Thin Ice

'On Thin Ice reads more like a Soviet-era spy thriller than travelogue, full of derring-do, panache, but also – importantly – insight. Imagine John Le Carré mixed with James Bond, add a dash of that master of travel writing, Colin Thubron, and you’ll have some idea of what’s in store' Benedict Allen, author of Explorer

In early 2022, Charlie Walker set out to hike 600 miles along Siberia’s frozen rivers. He hoped to cut through the myth of the gulag and the permafrost to understand who its people are and how they reckon with their haunted past, as well as what the future might hold for this remote corner of our world. But on 24 February, Russia invaded Ukraine, with devastating consequences. What had begun as an adventure swiftly descended into a paranoid nightmare, as Walker began to suspect he was being monitored by the Russian authorities. 

On Thin Ice juxtaposes the harsh beauty of a Siberian winter with a thriller-like series of events that exposes the dark heart of Putin's propaganda machine. It is both the extraordinary record of one man’s walk through the most inhospitable place on earth and a powerful insight into a deeply troubled – and troubling – nation.