Burma's Spring: Real lives in turbulent times

“A vibrant and comprehensive depiction … an affectionate, colourful book.”
Rt. Hon. John Bercow

"Burma's Spring is an extraordinary vox pop exercise that puts you in touch with what people in Burma are thinking and feeling. This is reportage at its best, listening-post reportage where the reporter disappears and all you can hear are Burmese voices. It’s a remarkable achievement."
RSAA Journal of Asian Affairs

“An extraordinarily beautiful, comprehensive and compelling story … essential reading for anyone interested in understanding Burma today.”
Benedict Rogers, author of Burma: A Nation at the Crossroads

"Burma’s Spring is like nothing else written about Burma … compelling, charming and unique. No other book I know of has got under the skin of such a wide variety of Burmese, bringing them to life on the page."
Peter Popham, author of The Lady and the Peacock, the Life of Aung San Suu Kyi

‘In her memoir, Russell has written authoritatively of the changes that swept through Burma, yet she has done so by focusing on the stories of a series of individuals and looking at how their lives were affected by events. The portraits are insightful and moving… A richer, more nuanced picture of Burma than is often portrayed by a Western media.’
The Independent

Burma’s Spring documents the struggles of ordinary people made extraordinary by circumstance. Rosalind Russell, a British journalist who came to live in Burma with her family, witnessed a time of unprecedented change in a secretive country that had been locked under military dictatorship for half a century.

Her memoir carries the reader through a turbulent era of uprising, disaster and political awakening with a vivid retelling of her encounters as an undercover reporter.

From the world famous democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to the broken-hearted domestic worker Mu Mu, a Buddhist monk to a punk, a palm reader to a girl band, these are stories of tragedy, resilience and hope – woven together in a vivid portrait of a land for so long hidden from view.