Europe Within Me

This book isn't just about Europe—it's about people. It's about how we're all so different, yet so similar. It's about how wounds heal, and how even scars can sometimes fade. I wouldn't be wrong if I said the stories it contains are psychotherapeutic. You'll find permission to love yourself for your differences, understand that telling someone good is more important than warning them about bad, and that people with machine guns on the metro aren't always a sign of a coup, perestroika, or war. I think this book is invaluable for immigrants, people genuinely interested in foreign cultures, and even those who've never travelled beyond their dacha—because being yourself around "others" is possible (and necessary) in any circumstances.

This book isn't exactly about emigration. If you've moved to another country, it'll be supportive. But even if you're not planning on moving anywhere, you'll have a lot of fun reading it. For me, this book is about learning to live among people whose opinions, habits, and values ​​don't always align with mine. How to adapt to the ocean of social interactions. How to learn to stay present in interactions with friends, family, colleagues, and new acquaintances, even if we're very different people. And Ekaterina's writing is my favorite! I've been reading her blog for a long time, and her previous book, "Hard One to Write," is my go-to book, and I eagerly await each new one!

The book reads so easily and quickly that it's impossible to put it down. The illustrations are magical: you peer into them and unravel the mystery. I didn't know all the French go on vacation at the same time! Or that they have police with machine guns on the metro. I cried while reading about the support for the Italians and the story of the dog's rescue. After reading this book, you feel cleaner; you want to adopt some of these habits, add them to your family. And kiss every page. This is the second book by this author I've read – and both have been pure delight!

For me, this book isn't about emigration, but about myself. About how we find ourselves when we encounter OTHERS. Everyone can find useful life hacks for life and communication in this book. This book, like all the author's previous ones, inspires you to express yourself in this world and have courage in life! From the very first lines, the author swirls me in her dance of life! You devour the book and you give birth to your actions! An extremely therapeutic book. P.S. The pictures are like works of art.

I laugh, reflect, and reread the lines. Sometimes, tears well up in my eyes. This is how I'm reading Ekaterina Hoarau's new book. The book "Europe within Me" isn't just about emigration. Each chapter is a story-sketch about people, their feelings, and relationships. The author not only offers her conclusions but also poses questions for self-analysis. It seems these questions are a ready-made writing practice for understanding one's difficulties. The reading is easy, yet challenging—like in childhood, when you leaf through a picture book, carefully examining the illustrations, noticing details, touches, and giggles. I think it's a great skill to so carefully convey the depth of the human soul, the differences and similarities between us. And I, at the very least, slowed down and grounded myself today, thanks to this book. Thank you, Ekaterina!

A lively and sincere book that captivates you from the very first lines and carries you on a journey: to the very heart of Turin, and from there to France, Belarus, southern Italy, or Greece. Streets, faces, voices, dialogue. You "hear" sounds and "smell" smells. There's movement in every line. You don't just read words, you become a participant in the events. You experience, you're indignant: you admire, you engage in arguments, you reflect on yourself. Many moments resonated with me personally, as I moved frequently myself and had to rediscover not only new friends but also myself. This book isn't just about emigration. It's more about finding inner strengths and values. It's about questions that everyone sooner or later asks themselves: Who am I? Where and how do I want to be? What do I rely on in life? I'm glad to have another favorite book in my library, and I'll definitely return to its pages again and again.

Is this book worth reading if you don't live far from your homeland? If you're not planning to emigrate? If you've never even been abroad? If you don't know anyone foreign, and you're unfamiliar with the quirks of the language barrier? Yes, yes, and yes! As the author herself says, this book isn't about emigration at all; it's about people and the situations we face every day. Every person is an entire country, with its own traditions and beliefs, and we have to take this into account when communicating, although this can be difficult. In this book, you'll find the unique aspects of life in France and Italy. Some things will shock you, some will puzzle you, some will make you want to adopt them, and at other times, you'll feel like you're shaking your head. And that's okay. We're all different, and every country is different. And we don't have to accept the rules of the game unconditionally; we can always make our own adjustments and embrace what we like. Ekaterina Hoarau is a Belarusian writer who lived in France for a time and now lives in Italy. Everything in this book is a story from real life, incredibly engaging to read. If you haven't read this author yet, I highly recommend it. I absolutely fell in love with "Hold on and Write," so when I heard about the new book's release, I didn't even think about whether I needed it. I started reading it as soon as I received it, wanting to read every sentence out loud; it felt so important. So much that was touching and personal. Such a wonderful style. So much that was interesting. I couldn't stop reading until 3 a.m. Thank you.

There are spinach books, there are lollipop books, and then there are chocolate-covered ice cream books. Spinach books are incredibly useful, but they're quite boring to read. I miss the beauty of their words. Lately, I only read them when absolutely necessary, and often just individual chapters. I savor lollipop books for a long time. They're full of wisdom, but they're so dense and multi-volume that reading them can sometimes stretch out over months, even years. But chocolate-covered ice cream books—they're a delight! A philologist's delight! You want to devour them whole, right away, and lick the stick. Read them on the tram, in a cafe, at a bus stop, and while lying in the bathroom until you're ready to vomit. Ekaterina's book became such a book for me. It's no wonder I chose linguistics as my profession. The topic of intercultural communication fascinates me. And I understand why. Because we understand ourselves through people, and who better than people from other cultures to expand our perceptions, forcing us to break free from our stereotypes and polish our sharp edges, so that at some point we realize we're all cut from the same cloth?! The book "Europe within Me: How Not to Lose Yourself in New Countries, Environments, and Roles" is a true guide to developing emotional intelligence. It's not just about cultural differences, but also about humanity, vulnerability, acceptance, and cultivating an inner adult.

My introduction to the book began with a file from the author that landed in my messenger. I read and couldn't put it down. The stories about how and what kind of being one can be with different people and in different countries became a joy boost for me. Ekaterina's perspective, amidst the difficulties of adaptation, reveals opportunities, new interests, and self-awareness. If you want a friendly nudge toward change in your life, a glimpse into how different things can be "where we are not," if you want to be inspired to take risks in various topics, you need this book. It's not worth reading in one sitting, despite the short stories and the lightness of the writing. Allow your soul to absorb Ekaterina's experience; it will give you support, as I've personally experienced many times!

I know the author from her writing courses and her previous bestseller, "Hard one to Write!", and I also follow her on Instagram. Ekaterina has an amazing talent for inspiring and setting the right writing mood, and how can you do that if you don't recognize yourself, especially in Europe, or any country for that matter, when all your feelings are so exposed to the extreme. The book "Europe within Me" gently and carefully reveals how Ekaterina herself dealt with this, her personal experience, which is sometimes not as ideal as it might seem from the outside. And this is valuable. Not everyone is ready to open up to the world with such a bouquet of disparate feelings. The book is valuable in itself, because it is not really about emigration itself, but about ourselves, about our interactions with the world and how to deal with it. The book is much deeper than just superficial travel stories – it is a true support. I want to give it to my friends who live in Europe, because I lived there myself and I know what it’s like when you don’t have a supportive environment nearby.

I had been waiting for this book for a long time, with real anticipation and tenderness. It was fascinating to watch it come into being — to imagine together what the cover would look like, to wonder when it would finally go to print.

I love everything Ekaterina Hoarau creates — her books, courses, and workshops. Her writing feels deeply genuine and deceptively simple in the best sense: the kind of text that quietly enters both your home and your inner world.

These short stories and sketches are perfect for a grey November evening. They invite rereading; each time, you notice something new.

What drew me in most was the honesty, sincerity, and profound love for the craft of writing that runs through every page.

This is a book about kind people who value warmth and human connection, about ordinary moments that somehow make life brighter.

“You don’t have to take what’s offered to you” — but this is a book worth taking into your hands and spending time with.

Highly recommended.

The book resonated with me in many ways and proved to be a bridge between the past and the future, between West and East, South and North, between old ways of thinking and the new. Books like this are sorely needed now, when the situation is changing almost daily, and it's important not to lose yourself and find your footing in the new world we're all heading toward. Thank you, Katya, especially for the warm self-irony – we all need to hug ourselves every now and then and say, "Good girl! You'll be fine!" After reading this book, I can't shake the feeling that everything will be fine for all of us. :)

This is the second book in several years that has made me cry. The first was "Ronja, the Robber's Daughter." So many emotions come up: touching, sad, surprised, delighted, envious—I can't even begin to list them all. And I'll probably be thinking about it for days to come. Ekaterina is so open, so close, I want to meet her like longtime friends.

What a wonderful book, I myself am now living in a foreign country and experience the same emotions and feelings, the author described them so subtly and with humor, the book left a pleasant aftertaste.

Some of the stories in "Europe Within Me" are so moving I cry. I want to retell them to my family and friends. As I begin each chapter, I can't even imagine how it will end. I simply give my hand, trust the author, and she surprises me every time. In fact, I decided to read the book slowly. Pausing and giving myself time to process, to live, to think, to search for similar or opposite examples in my own life. I felt Ekaterina's book was like a conversation with a close friend. She masterfully weaves together glimpses of life, overheard dialogues, connects several instances, asks difficult questions, and weaves an exquisite narrative. The stories in "Europe within Me" are true bridges. Between doubts and convictions, advice and doubts, disappointments and illusions, questions and attempts at answering them.

Ugh, a book about emigration? That’s not relevant to me — I’m not going to read it.” That’s what I thought before picking up Europe Within Me by Ekaterina Hoarau.

But the book turned out to be about something much larger: people living in other countries, their different ways of seeing the world, different ways of living — and what we might learn from them. At the same time, the author reflects deeply and shares very personal experiences, which gives the book an almost therapeutic quality. There are so many thoughtful and profound reflections on how to live and what other cultures can teach us.

Running through the entire book is the thread of Katya’s studies in Moscow, her life in Belarus, France, and Italy, interwoven with stories of her friends living abroad. Each story contains something vulnerable and intimate — something that surprises you, invites you to rethink your own experiences, and perhaps even change something in your life.

One especially unforgettable moment is when a friend compliments the author and tells her she is beautiful. Ekaterina brushes it off, but he responds unexpectedly: “Of course you have imperfections. I meant that taken as a whole — as a person — you are beautiful.”

The book is built from these kinds of small mosaics, and together they form a remarkable collection of stories. If I tried to list every moment I loved, I would end up retelling the entire book. It’s better to read it for yourself and discover your own experience of it. And I really do mean read — although listening to Katya is a pleasure in itself — because the book is illustrated with absolutely stunning artwork.

What makes it even more extraordinary is how sensitively the artist Barbara Fomina captured the meanings and atmosphere of the text, and how beautifully she translated them into images

Europe Within Me is not simply a book about travel, emigration, or the differences between cultures and mentalities. It is a book about finding yourself within the difficult, fast-moving current of modern values. Finding yourself — and accepting yourself. Finding yourself — and not losing yourself.

This book is a step toward understanding people who are different from you. It is also a quiet confrontation with the loneliness that exists in every human being. And, ultimately, it is a search for the sense of home hidden inside each of us.

Every story in the book is true, and they are told by an author with a generous heart — someone who has lived through much, studied much, and seen much. Ekaterina Hoarau is also the author of the bestselling Hard One to Write, a remarkable book that helped many writers become more confident, vivid, and compelling in their work. And for some, it simply helped them begin writing at all.

If her previous book teaches the art of breaking through creative blocks and stereotypes, this one frees us from the habit of living trapped inside our fears.

Reading this book is also a pleasure on the level of language itself: the prose feels fresh, light, and full of striking metaphors. The author has a rare gift for noticing the subtlest psychological details and bringing them into words.

Each chapter, each new story, carries us into different countries, places, and moments in time. Yet somewhere around the middle of the book, you begin to understand the hidden thread connecting all these worlds.

The pages are filled with illustrations that make the stories feel vividly alive, as though you were reading the diary of a traveler moving through time itself. The artist clearly understood the emotional texture of the text, conveying the author’s ideas sometimes with humor, sometimes with quiet suggestion.

This is a book that is luminous, tender, and painful to read. Painful because everyone has, at some point, felt like a stranger among their own people and strangely at home among outsiders. Luminous because we grow only by learning to accept one another.

Every reader will understand this book differently and take away something personal from it. But one thing I know for certain: this is one of those books that anyone can choose to read. Because it marks the beginning of a long journey toward one’s own heart.