THE SUNROSE EFFECT by Lena Wilderäng

»If you meet a brown bear in the Swedish forests, talk to it calmly and back away. If it looks like it wants to attack, it helps to play dead. But that Russian bear is not a brown bear, but a black bear. If you get attacked and lay on the ground, it will kill you. It's about fighting back with everything you've got.«

When Russia marches into Ukraine one early morning in February, Lena Wilderäng's life changes fundamentally. Now it's all about helping. She quits her job and starts driving used ambulances and fire engines to the front. And as the months go by, with no end in sight, the stakes keep getting higher.

The Sunflower Effect is a story about a war. About those who managed to escape and about those who stayed behind, about soldiers, children and babushkas. But it is also a story about courage, morality and humanity, which puts everyone before the question: What is the individual's responsibility when lives are at stake?

»Lena Wilderäng's everyday appeal is a beautiful reminder of what ordinary citizens of Europe can do.«