Stories I Stole

Shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Book Award 2003
Longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2002

Fed up with working for Time magazine in London, Steavenson moved to Georgia on a whim. Stories I Stole relates her time there in twenty vodka-fuelled episodes drawn from all over the country - tales of love, friendship and power cuts, of duelling (Georgian style), of horse races in the mountains, wars and refugees, broken hearts, fixed elections, drinking sessions and a room containing a thousand roses.

'A young Kapuscinski with a literary future ahead of her...an immensely talented writer' Neal Ascherson, Observer

'A joyous, perceptive and haunting debut which fizzes - and sears - like rough new wine' Rory MacLean, Sunday Times

'Lyrical, poetic and sassy by turns; when she retells Georgian people's stories, you hear real voices' Vanora Bennett, The Times

'I couldn't possibly over praise the beautiful writing' Sunday Tribune

'A sparkling, poetical hymn to the most romantic and dangerous land in the world.' Simon Sebag-Montefiore, author of Prince of Princes: The Life of Potemkin

'Lively, atmospheric, honest, perceptive; a terrific account of Georgia's post-Soviet mess from a fresh and intelligent new writer' Anna Reid, author of Borderland