American novelist Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the smash hit Eat, Pray, Love, has canceled the release of her previously announced new book because of its plot set in Russia against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. .
“Now is not the time to publish this book,” Gilbert said in a video message she posted on Monday on Instagram, titled “The Snow Forest” and set in Siberia.
She added, “I don’t want to add to the pain of people who have suffered and continue to suffer severe pain.”
The author, who announced the book’s release last week, said that over the weekend she had received “a wave of responses and comments from Ukrainian readers who expressed their anger, sadness, disappointment and pain at my decision to publish today, regardless of the topic, a book set in Russia.”
This book, as she describes it, “takes place in central Siberia in the middle of the last century, and tells the story of a group of individuals who decided to withdraw from society in order to resist the Soviet regime and defend nature in the face of the industrial tide.”
“I will remove this book from the publishing schedule,” the novelist concluded, adding, “I am working on other book projects and have made the decision to turn my attention to it.”
Elizabeth Gilbert became famous all over the world for her autobiography, (“Eat, pray, love”), which narrates her journey of self-development to Italy, India and Bali, and the novel was turned into a film in which the American star starred, Julia Roberts.
