Why French author Marc Levy is making his new book free in Russia

A celebrated French author plans to make his next book available for free for people in Russia as he hopes it will help counter propaganda and misinformation in the country about the war in Ukraine.

Marc Lévy’s next book, entitled La Symphonie des monstres, will be released on October 17 and is set in Ukraine directly after the invasion by Russian forces in February last year.

The book is set to be translated into a number of languages and sold around the world but a Russian version will be put online for free for anyone to read.

Although the plot revolves principally around a child abduction, the book delves into the relationship between the two countries, particularly in the 21st century.

The author believes the book can help clear up misconceptions about the war and the actions of Russian forces that citizens in the country are unable to access due to Russian propaganda.

“I said to myself that, if popular writers had told what Nazism was like back in 1933, some Germans might have seen things differently,” said the author.

Book to be distributed free of charge

Mr Lévy’s books have sold more than 50 million copies around the world, and have been translated into more than 50 languages, including Russian.

His books are extremely popular in Russia, and he is one of the most read non-Russian authors there.

He has sold around two million copies of his books in the country, with every book translated into the language selling at least 50,000 copies.

La Symphonie des monstres will also be translated into Russian but instead of being sold in the bookshops, will be put online for free.

The name of the translator is being kept a secret, and Mr Lévy is not publishing the book through his usual Russian publishers, who are now in exile.

"I will be delighted if a paper version of the novel is sold one day, perhaps in the post-Putin era… but in the meantime, from the end of October we'll be putting the Russian text online, free of charge,” the author said.

Mr Lévy comes from a Jewish family, and believes it is the duty of others to speak up against the war in any way they can.

“My father always told me that if Goethe's people (editor's note: another way of saying Germans/Germany in France) had given in to the siren calls of Nazism, no other people, however educated, would be safe from such things happening again,” he added.

“There is a kind of passivity and fatalism around Putin that saddens and terrifies me… Part of the Russian population is no longer capable of thinking for itself,” the author said.

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Book comes out next week

The book will be available from October 17 in France, and is also being translated into Ukrainian, where it will be published by The Old Lion, one of the most prestigious publishing houses in the country.

The main book of the plot covers the abduction of a Ukrainian child by Russian soldiers, and the plight and grief of his parents after the incident.

The boy, who was born mute, is an allegory for Ukraine’s struggle to speak for itself on the international stage, writes Le Monde journalist Ariane Chemin.

The book will be available in stores as well as e-commerce retailers in France, but with a price tag of €21.90, those ordering it online will likely have to pay the newly-introduced €3 surcharge for online book orders.

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