The only thing a worthy criminal takes from the cops is a beating, and even that he gives back, when the right moment comes. Siberian Education is the story of a tiny, tightly knit community of 'honest' and 'dishonest' criminals in Transnistria, a remote region between Moldovia and the Ukraine. This is a place with a strict code of honour, a complex hierarchy, and a deep distrust of outsiders - and especially police. Transgressions bring swift and severe retribution, and weapons are treated almost as religious icons. Nicolai Lilin's memoir is an account of a young boy growing up in a world that is strangely recognisable, yet unlike anything we have experienced. Controversial, brutally honest and sometimes disturbing, Siberian Education takes the reader to a place no writer had ever been.

Author Biography

Nicolai Lilin grew up in the small republic of Transnistria, which declared its independence in 1990 but has never been recognised. He fought in the Russian army against the Chechens, became a fisherman off the coast of Ireland for a year and now runs a tattoo parlour in Turin.