Georgian author Nino Haratischwili was a child when Georgia gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Her novel about the time when Russian tanks rolled through the streets of Tbilisi will be published in the Netherlands on November 1st. The scarce light shows those chaotic years in the ever-present shadow of Russia, which still shapes the Haratischwili generation.

Like many of his contemporaries, the novelist and playwright now lives in Europe. Haratischwili lives in Berlin, but has been working as a director for a play in Tbilisi for several months. In conversation with news hour she tells how strange it is for her to hear Russian all over the street. “The refugees speak the same language as the soldiers occupying parts of our country, that’s absurd.”

In 2008 Russian troops invaded Georgia. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has accused the Georgian army of committing “genocide” against the ethnic Russian population of the rebellious Georgian region of South Ossetia. A Russian army still occupies about twenty percent of Georgia.

Russian refugees

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, tens of thousands of Russians have fled to Georgia, often to avoid conscription. Many Georgians fear that Putin will again use the presence of large numbers of Russians to invade their country. Haratischwili feels torn between two thoughts: “I feel sympathy because they fled the regime that we hate, but I also feel anger and insecurity. We don’t know who these people are.”

Haratischwili, internationally known for bestsellers the eighth lifeShe sees many parallels to what the protagonists experience in it The scarce light. Georgia gained its independence in years of “anarchy, full of chaos and violence”. Those were dark years, both literally and figuratively: “The lights often went out. In my memory it was almost always dark, we sat at the table by candlelight.”

The four friends who are the focus of the new novel escape together from the Russian soldiers and brave the violent demonstrations, drug gangs and civil war. They lose each other in the following years as some of them move to Europe.

But no matter how far they build their new existence from their motherland, no one escapes the past. Haratischwili describes the experiences of her generation. “Everyone has lost loved ones. Georgians have made mistakes themselves. But as a society we have never digested the last thirty years of shared history.”

Member of the European Union

Georgians fear that the presence of many Russians in the country and the unrest and instability caused by the influx of refugees will further distance their country from Europe. Eight out of ten Georgians want to join the European Union. “I dream of that like many compatriots,” says Haratischwili at the Royal Theater in the Georgian capital. “Our future lies in Europe.”

In March, the Georgian government announced that it intends to apply for EU membership. This summer, the European Commission was positive about a candidate country for Moldova and Ukraine, but said Georgia awaited more democratic reforms first. In response, tens of thousands of people gathered in Tbilisi in front of the parliament building, waving Georgian and European flags. The Ukrainian bicolor also fluttered on the pitch.

“For us there is no alternative,” says Haratischwili. “It’s the European Union, or hell: living dependent on Russia, a dictatorship grafted onto the foundations of the Soviet Union. A continuation of the bloody story that everyone in Georgia knows only too well and that we want to say goodbye to.”

Watch the conversation with Nino Haratischwili below: