Run For Your Life is the remarkable true story of a family forced into hiding after leaking Russian secrets – a tale so astounding and bizarre, it’s hard to believe it’s not fiction.

It has all the elements of a thrilling novel with a man, his wife and their two children fleeing from Russia after falling out with one of the most powerful men in the country, the one-time deputy to the all-powerful Vladimir Putin. They flew, carrying just hand luggage to avoid suspicion, to London, but alarmed by how powerful the Russian oligarchs were there, they hid in a hotel until they could get on a plane to one of the furthest countries from Russia, Australia.

After chilling death threats, the Strides – British man Nick, his Russian wife Luda and their two children Michael and Anya – applied for political asylum in Australia, a quest that became even more urgent when Nick whistle blew on his former boss at the Kremlin. But then threatened by the Australian immigration authorities with deportation back to Britain and Russia, they decided to do whatever it took to keep their family together.

And that meant ‘disappearing’ into the remote wilds of Western Australia’s Dampier Peninsula, one of the world’s final frontiers. For more than three years, the little group battled snakes, crocodiles, tornadoes, fires, hunger and thirst to survive.

Run For Your Life is, at last, their amazing story, which is being published on April 3 2024 by Simon & Schuster in Australia, priced $34.99. It comes out simultaneously in New Zealand, and a week later in the UK.

“This is one of the most incredible stories I’ve ever heard,” says author Sue Williams. “And it’s ironic it’s coming out just as Putin ‘wins’ an election with an alleged 87.8 per cent of the vote for another six-year term, and soon after the death of his main rival Alexei Navalny. The courage of this little family in the face of almost insurmountable odds is simply amazing.”

Publishers Simon & Schuster say, “This will be the first time that Nick Stride and his children Michael and Anya share their harrowing story of being on the run in the remote Dampier Peninsula of Australia, after receiving death threats from Russian henchmen.

“There has never been more attention focused on Russia as there is now, following its invasion of Ukraine … As for Putin, there have been plenty of reports of at least 16 people who’ve died in violent or suspicious circumstances after incurring his displeasure.”

Sue Williams is also reading the audiobook of Run For Your Life, out soon with Audible.