“They know Vladimir Putin is corrupt… Their attitude is less that he is a monster, but that he’s ‘our monster’

Having explored Russia in the footsteps of its ‘golden age’ writers for her new book, the author talks Trans-Sib glories, Putin propaganda and George Best’s wandering eyes…

You first travelled to Russia when you were eleven – at the height of the Cold War… We were a working-class family and never went anywhere, but my mother was fascinated by Russia and it was one of the first package tours. Of course, it was completely under the thumb of the state – you could only stay in approved hotels. There would be an enormous woman at the end of every corridor, watching you go in and out. Then, one day we went down to breakfast and all these figures walked in and we recognised them as the Northern Ireland football team – and there was George Best! It was like the gods had come among us. But they didn’t have any people to talk to, so they came to our table. The manager asked if we wanted some tickets to the game that night, so we went along and it was completely snowing. The next day in the paper [back home], there was a picture of my mother and me with George Best – looking at my mother’s tits!

Do you think that travelling so young set you on a path?

I think so. We were very workingclass people and that was an anomalous episode. It certainly inspired an enthusiasm towards Russia. I always felt like I was looking over my shoulder at it.

One of the threads of the book is two centuries of oppression of one sort or another...

Yes. I knew the book was going to be anchored in the writers of the ‘golden age’, but one of the things that I wanted to do was find out what had changed between that time and now. The disparity between the few and the many was as ridiculous in the writers’ day as it is now. Russia bounces along at the bottom of almost every social index, just as it always has. I stayed in mainly homestays, and there’s a lot of gaunt people sending money to get their sons into university in order that they don’t have to do military service, which is pretty grim. I was interested in the fact that the human spirit still flares up here, as it does everywhere.

It felt like some of those authors (Pushkin, Tolstoy, etc) tapped into a deeper sense of being Russian, similar to that which Vladimir Putin is mining now?

Yes, there’s a lot of similarities. What I learnt was that people don’t have any illusion about Putin at all. They know that he’s corrupt and they take a very ironic view of the images of him that come out on state television, of him strangling a bear with his bare hands. Their attitude is less that he’s a monster, but that he’s ‘our monster’. They also believe the fact that the West is behind every bad thing that happens – and, of course, that Crimea is a part of Russia.

What did you hope to achieve on a trip that took you ‘in an author’s footsteps’?

You have to have an open mind with any trip. Obviously, you don’t know what you’re looking for until you’ve found it. People often say to me, ‘What do you do when you get somewhere?’ and I say, ‘Often, I’ll sit around waiting for something to happen!’.

What was the highlight of the experience for you?

Russia is very lovable, despite it all; that’s what I took away. People say Russians aren’t friendly; and maybe they don’t smile, but they come through in the end. It’s such a beautiful country, and so varied.

The Trans-Siberian Express is such a highlight, and I’d certainly advise anyone to do it during winter; you go through days and days and days of snow on birch trees and then suddenly you pull into this monumental Soviet station, which is three times the size of London’s King’s Cross, with icy platforms and babushkas patrolling around selling dried fish. It’s just magical. The Trans-Sib only stops for half an hour, so there’s always this fantastic layering up, to put on lots of kit, and then you walk up and down the platform.

Another highlight was camping in the Western Caucasus, which is enormous and pristine and beautiful. You can even drink water from the frozen lakes.

Mud and Stars: Travels in Russia with Pushkin and Other Geniuses of the Golden Age (Jonathan Cape, £20) by Sara Wheeler is out on 4 July.