# A Life in Fragments by Marina Litvinenko review – surviving Putin

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/a-life-in-fragments-by-marina-litvinenko-review-surviving-putin/
- Published: 2026-11-04T07:00:27+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-04T13:45:27+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/nov/04/a-life-in-fragments-by-marina-litvinenko-review-intimate-testimony-of-putins-poisonous-regime
- Topics: Culture, Europe, World

## Key points

- Marina Litvinenko tells her story two decades after her husband’s poisoning.
- Her memoir portrays Sasha as a loving partner and father.
- She describes seeking justice amid resistance from Moscow and London.

## Summary

Marina Litvinenko’s memoir revisits the poisoning and death of her husband, Russian dissident Alexander “Sasha” Litvinenko, while restoring him as a loving partner and father rather than only a symbol of state violence. The review presents her account as an act of reclaiming his life and describes how she continued his campaign for justice against the Kremlin and British officials who initially resisted an inquiry.

Litvinenko fell ill after meeting Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun at a London hotel in 2006; doctors initially misdiagnosed his condition, and it took three weeks to identify radioactive polonium poisoning. A public inquiry later concluded that Vladimir Putin had probably approved the killing. Marina opposed the widely published deathbed photograph at first, and her memoir also recounts the inquiry, her grief and the ordinary bureaucratic demands that continued after her home became part of a police investigation.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.