Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert is pulling her new book after backlash to its setting in Russia.
Gilbert, 53, announced in a video Monday that she is removing her novel The Snow Forest from the release calendar following criticism from Ukrainians. The war between Russia and Ukraine has escalated since February 2022 after Russian forces invaded Ukraine.
"Over the course of this weekend, I have received an enormous, massive outpouring of reactions and responses from my Ukrainian readers, expressing anger, sorrow, disappointment and pain, about the fact that I would choose to release a book into the world right now -- any book, no matter what the subject is, that is set in Russia," Gilbert said.
"I want to say that I have heard these messages and read these messages, and I respect them. As a result, I'm making a course correction, and I'm removing the book from its publication schedule. It is not the time for this book to be published," she added. "And I do not want to add any harm to a group of people who have already experienced and who are all continuing to experience grievous and extreme harm."
The Snow Forest was to be published in February 2024.
Gilbert described the book as being "set in the middle of Siberia in the middle of the last century and told the story of a group of individuals who made a decision to remove themselves from society to resist the Soviet government and to try to defend nature against industrialization."
The author said those who pre-ordered the book will receive refunds.
Gilbert and publisher Bloomsbury Books had announced The Snow Forest and its release date last week.
Gilbert said she will turn her focus to "other book projects."