Elizabeth Gilbert Delays Release of Russian-Set Novel After Backlash.

Author Elizabeth Gilbert has postponed the release of her upcoming novel "The Snow Forest," set in Siberia during the Soviet era, citing objections from Ukrainian readers who called it insensitive and a whitewash of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. The novel has received hundreds of one-star reviews on Goodreads. Gilbert said she did not want to add any harm to a group of people who have already experienced grievous and extreme harm. The decision was called "well-intended but wrongheaded" by the head of PEN America, who said fiction and culture are essential to supporting mutual understanding and unleashing empathy.