This is Michael Krupa’s story of how in 1939 he escaped the German invasion of Poland only to be captured by the Red Army, accused of espionage, and interrogated in the notorious Lubianka prison. He was then sent to the infamous Pechora Gulag, where most inmates died of overwork and starvation within a year. Amazingly, Kupra then escaped and made the gruelling journey from Siberia to Afghanistan.

This is a remarkable true story of survival and also gives a chilling insight into the brutality of Stalinist Russia. It reads like a thriller and is in the mould of Defiance, and Touching the Void in tales of human survival and endeavour against the odds.