Product Review

Is the concept of the €œmail-order bride€ alive and well, updated for the 21st century?
That€s what journalist Shaun Walker wants to find out when he sets out on a €œromance tour€ with a group of western men seeking a wife in Ukraine. The men spend a week in the port city of Odessa, hoping to find true love and a Ukrainian bride to bring home.
The country has a huge dating and marriage industry, but it quickly becomes apparent that all is not what it seems. Walker uncovers scams and disappointments, wounded hearts and broken lives as he journeys to the very bottom of Odessa€s sinister marriage industry. There are many twists and turns to the tale that are as shocking as they are unexpected.
Odessa Dreams is by turns hilariously funny, poignantly tragic and deeply disturbing. It is a roller coaster journey that will leave the reader feeling uncomfortable for quite some time.

Shaun Walker is Moscow Correspondent for The Guardian, and previously for The Independent. He studied Russian History at Oxford University and has lived in Moscow for a decade.