By the age of six, Nicolai Lilin had been given his first ‘pike knife’ by an uncle, and by the age of twelve, he had been convicted of attempted murder . . . Nicolai Lilin gained his ‘education’ as a member of the Siberian Urkas – a small and tight-knit community of ‘honest criminals’ in a forgotten corner of Eastern Europe . . . Siberian Education is his tale of an extreme childhood – exotic, violent and completely unique.

A shocking expose of an extraordinary Siberian criminal underworldAbout the AuthorNicolai Lilin was born in 1981 and grew up in the small republic of Transnistria, which declared its independence in 1990 but has never been recognised. Nicolai left home to fight in the Russian army against the Chechens. He later lived in Ireland, before moving to Italy, where he continues to work as a tattooist in Turin.ReviewsLilin’s astonishing account of his life takes you into some very strange worlds; frightening, violent and yet with spirited moments of redemption which both offer hope and keep you reading . . .a breath-taking memoir. — Misha Glenny * * Mail on Sunday * *Terrifying, fascinating, horrific and violent – Lilin’s memoir is an eye-opening and gripping account of a childhood spent in the brutal Siberian underworld. — Simon Sebag-Montifiore, author of Young StalinForce yourself to forget about categories of good and evil, you have to just be there and read . . . produces a thrill of pleasure that is hard to forget. — Roberto Saviano, author of GomorrahLilin’s tale pulls no punches…a highly recommended account. * * Sunday Business Post * *Nicolai Lilin’s Siberian Education (Norton) paints a phantasmagorical picture of Transnistria, a former Soviet region where a subculture of “honest criminals” has long flourished. Lilin writes of this ritualized, xenophobic, gun-and-cross-toting milieu, “Our philosophy of life has a close relation to death; children are taught that taking someone else’s life or dying are perfectly acceptable things, if there is a good reason. — Lisa Shea * * Elle * *With its exhaustive descriptions of ritual and tradition, Siberian Education at times resembles a work of cultural anthropology . . . Lilin has constructed Siberian Education as a Russian nesting doll, with stories unfolding inside of other stories, which yield yet more stories. — Joshua Yaffa * * Wall Street Journal * *Book InformationISBN 9781847679338Author Nicolai LilinFormat PaperbackPage Count 464Imprint Canongate BooksPublisher Canongate BooksWeight(grams) 308gDimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 28mm