There is an eerie connection between Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob and how the Ukraine war might end, which I discuss in my rerun of the Slow Read this week.

The narrator Yente is connected to the Cossack-led Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648-1657) in Poland-Lithuania/Ukraine.

This period of hateful violence led to the deaths or refugee flight of 90 per cent of Poland’s and Ukraine’s Jews, as well as other groups (a figure today’s Ukrainian nationalist historians dispute).

It began ‘The Deluge’ or ‘The Ruin’ of Poland-Lithuania/Ukraine.

It spawned a heretical Jewish Messiah, Sabbatai Tzvi (1626-1676), who prefigured Jacob Frank.

It ended in a treaty by which the Cossacks swore loyalty to Russia - the document Vladimir Putin gave to a befuddled Tucker Carlson in that interview.

Has Zelensky played Khmelnytsky’s role in the 21st century?