By: Erin Litteken
It’s the 1930s and Stalin’s troops have invaded Ukraine and inflicted a man-made famine that claimed millions of lives. Katya is a young girl in a small village affected by the famine. She watches as friends and neighbors disappear until it finally hits closer to home than she ever dreamed. What starts out as something the village hopes will eventually go away if they just yield to government demands turns into a fight to survive as food initially becomes scarce and then non-existent. Through it all, love holds Katya and her family steadfast to themselves and to each other.
Years later, a young widow named Cassie travels with her daughter to live with her grandmother hoping for a new start. She discovers a journal belonging to her grandmother which takes her on a journey to the past.
This book broke my heart in a thousand pieces. It was so well written and so beautiful and so sad – I read it in on.
I’m ashamed to admit that I had no clue the Holodomor ever happened. I knew atrocities were committed under Stalin but I had no clue of the total brutality of it. This was a bit of a history lesson for me and boy, was it hard to read. The choices people had to make and just the total definition of survival was so painful to read.
My dad lived through WW2 while in Italy under Mussolini. He’s told me stories of how my grandmother and him struggled to survive. They lost their home and if it weren’t for the fact that my grandmother was a master seamstress, they wouldn’t have eaten. Like one of the characters in the book, my dad still doesn’t let food go to waste and will eat anything. As a young girl I used to ask if there was any food he didn’t like and he would say no because he remembers not knowing when he was going to eat next. So part of me was thinking about that knowing the author took from her own family history to build the story. Somehow, we are all a part of our family history and I loved how well this was honored in this story.
There are two stories being told simultaneously.
Cassie is still reeling from her husband’s sudden death, as is her daughter. One year into her grief journey and she still struggles with immediate loss, how to cope and move forward and how to help her daughter as she grieves. Her mom suggests she move in with her grandmother, who is beginning to have some dementia-type symptoms. Cassie agrees hoping the change will elevate her from a grieving widow to some sort of functional human being again.
While there, she find’s Bobby’s (her grandmother) journal. The journal chronicles Bobby’s life in Ukraine starting at the time of Stalin’s invasion.
The story transport you back in time where we meet young Katia and we learn of the Holodomor. Katya’s story is a story of survival but it’s also a story of love – not the mushy kind of love full of long, slow kisses (although there is that) but the kind of love that’s hard where choices to love and survive make you want to hate those closest to you.
I fell completely in love with Cassie and Katya. Both women are strong survivors of life’s circumstances. Neither had a choice but to go forward in the best way they knew how. I really loved how Cassie grew and healed as she read Bobby’s journal. I felt like she was forever changed, taking a chance on new love and the idea of life beyond loss.
Katya’s story was heartbreaking in the extreme. I felt each tear and tear of her heart. Katya is a heroine of the past whose story should not ever be forgotten as though she were more than a fictional character. History tells us this character was based on many such survivors.
For the beauty of this story, the history behind it and all the emotions this book puts you through, I highly recommend it! So very well done!
My rating: :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
NOTE – Thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Faith Love n Joy 