Vivat drops Reese Witherspoon’s debut book over inclusion of Russian characters

Vivat Publishing will not publish a debut novel by actress Reese Witherspoon, “Gone Before Goodbye.” The publishing house’s CEO and co-owner Yuliya Orlova said in her column for Forbes that the translation rights to this novel had been previously purchased, but the events in the book take place in the luxury district of Moscow Rubliovka.

According to Orlova, the publishing house bought the translation rights before it became known what the book would be about, and the agreement was signed in Oct. 2024, a year before the actual release.

“To maintain the leadership at the book market, you need, among other things, to make decisions quickly. Even if you are an expert in selecting books, someone else may acquire all the best manuscripts. Publishers worldwide often purchase the rights to global bestsellers when there is only an idea and a brief description, with the release scheduled two or three years later. This strategy is risky, but that’s the way the industry functions,” Orlova said.

The publisher received the final file for translation at the end of July, and the book has not yet been translated. Orlova explains that Vivat did not announce the Ukrainian release when the novel appeared on bestseller lists in various countries in October: “[T]ypically, announcements about new publications are made at the final stage of preparation for printing.”

“We would not have published a book set primarily in Russia in any case. We lost money, but that is the least of it in this situation. A much bigger problem is that there was no mention of Russians in the English-language reviews on Goodreads. Foreign celebrity authors give so much airtime to Russian culture and Russian oligarchs in contemporary popular literature, and this does not surprise foreigners,” Orlova added.

A surgeon named Maggie McCabe, the protagonist of the suspense novel by Witherspoon, finds herself in financial difficulty due to a series of setbacks. A colleague offers to pay off her family’s debts in exchange for her performing surgery on a client in Russia, so she sets off for Rubliovka.

Witherspoon released her debut novel, co-authored with American writer Harlan Coben. At the outbreak of the full-scale invasion, Witherspoon actively supported Ukraine and raised funds for refugees.

“This will never change the fact that the events in her book take place in Rubliovka, and many of the characters are Russians. Does this justify the authors of the book if they are described as exotic and negative individuals? The answer is clear. For a Ukrainian publishing house operating in the midst of war with Russia, such things are not only offensive to the eye, but also to the soul,” Orlova noted.

RELATED: The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine imposes sanctions against five Russian publishing houses

Copy editing: Joy Tataryn