A shocking expose of an extraordinary Siberian criminal underworld.
We are transported to a world of extraordinary violence where even children are sucked into a truly shocking code of behaviour.
You cannot describe the morality of this world because there is no morality. Yet the criminal protagonists live by a traditional and, among themselves, respected code of behaviour. To go against it, or even be ignorant of it, is to risk unspeakable revenge - even among one's own family. Among the unworthy, you yourself have become unworthy. 'Dignity, once lost, never returns'.
Reading this book, you become part a criminal world where 'the only thing a worthy criminal takes from the cops is a beating, and even that he gives back, when the right moment comes'. Be very careful.
By the age of six, Nicolai Lilin had been given his first 'pike knife' by an uncle, and by the age of twelve, he had been convicted of attempted murder ...Nicolai Lilin gained his 'education' as a member of the Siberian Urkas - a small and tight-knit community of 'honest criminals' in a forgotten corner of Eastern Europe ...Siberian Education is his tale of an extreme childhood - exotic, violent and completely unique.
'Force yourself to forget about categories of good and evil, you have to just be there and read ... produces a thrill of pleasure that is hard to forget.' Roberto Saviano, author of Gomorrah
Author
About Nicolai Lilin
Nicolai Lilin was born in 1981 and grew up in the small republic of Transnistria, which declared its independence in 1990 but has never been recognised. Nicolai left home to fight in the Russian army against the Chechens. He later lived in Ireland, before moving to Italy, where he continues to work as a tattooist in Turin.
