think this book will mainly appeal to people who want to know more about what is currently going on in Russia/Ukraine(To be honest, me like many Americans did not realize until the fall of the Soviet Union that there was a difference between Russia and the Ukraine. I know I firmly believed that many Ukrainian cities were Russia cities. It helps that I know some recent Russian immigrants. Otherwise I think I might have found parts of the book confusing.

Like some other reviewers I found the characters not well developed. The story focuses on Nadia who is a immigrant from the Ukraine. She works as a nanny for an upper-middle class family in New York where the mother came from Russia to the US when she was five. The first half of the book compares child rearing in the US to the harsher realities of life in the Ukraine.

However, the book never really gets into the characters heads. The characters really don't change.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

'She preferred to think of herself as an observer, a temporary traveler, someone waiting for a new life to begin, rather than who she really was: a worker executing an invisible task within the neighborhood’s complex ecosystem.'

Nadia splits her time as a Nanny to the privileged little girl of a Russian born woman who demands she teach her child Russian, even if she cannot speak it well herself and as a caregiver at VIP Senior Care, tending to the elderly. Often feeling invisible in the eyes of her employers “That she had her own family on the opposite side of the world? That her life was far rounder than the reflection in the woman’s eyes?” she pushes on through her days, biding time until everything she has worked for finally comes to fruition. Relying on Skype, Nadia can keep contact with her beloved daughter Larisska whom she had no choice but to leave behind with her mother in Ukraine, a fractured country that has gone to war. Larisska, feeling abandoned, has her own acts of defiance, barely coming to the video call, refusing to answer her mother about her level of health, to say whether or not she is keeping up with her insulin injections but even that is preferable to the dead silence of unanswered calls and the fear that they could have died, and if they are alive, how will she get her medicine if everything has ceased to function? Then there is no hope as America isn’t granting asylum, everything on hold thanks to Homeland Security.

There was a time when Nadia worked hard as a successful bookkeeper in Ukraine, a diligent employee who caught the eye of the married midlevel manager at their manufacturing company. A place where she was respected, proud to do her work, had her own routines like meeting up with her childhood friend Yulia and their old schoolmates often, then the brief affair (if a moment of bliss and passion can be called an affair) that leaves her pregnant with Larisska. Understanding that he will never leave his wife and children for Nadia and their unborn child, or acknowledge Larisska as his, surely he must know she bore his fruit, Nadia is happy just to be in his charming, handsome presence. She is sure that each extra kindness he gives her is his way of showing he loves her and knows about Larisska. Then changes begin in her country, subtly at first. Storefronts altering signs from Russian to Ukrainian, government documents changing to the Ukrainian language, soon currency being phased out and then, payment at work in mandarins. How is Nadia, a single mother, going to keep her child and mother alive on mandarins?

Her daughter Larisska, ” such an adorably willful little thing,” a neighbor once told her of her newborn was stubborn from the start, refusing even to nurse from her breast. Then, the diabetes diagnoses when Nadia couldn’t possibly afford the insulin. Their only hope is America, but the years pass and when it’s finally Nadia’s turn and her application is approved, there is a flaw in the plan, Larisska at 21 is too old (has aged out) to be approved. Nadia makes the hard decision to go anyway without her girl, leaving Larisska feeling at once betrayed and discarded. To Nadia’s way of thinking, it is the only hope she has of keeping Larisska healthy, her medication supplied and she will get her daughter to America, once she herself is settled in. Larisska thinks they should stay together, it’s too late anyway to move away. Nadia knows America is the land of opportunity, the prize! It is a hard transition, a land with so many different people of many colors, some she had only read about before, and at first, she fears them all but she has no choice but to adapt if she is going to get Larisska there. America, however, has other plans. Applications continuously get declined and Larisska’s life goes on without her. With the fighting between western Ukranians, separatists and Russians her fervent prayers that they leave her homeland aren’t enough to make it happen, soon access to medication stops, and Nadia devises a brilliant plan to save her Larisska after a night out on the town with her friends. With no man in her own life, her thoughts are never focused on her own loneliness, and instead of love for herself, she will find a man for Larisska, in America! Mother knows best, always.

This is a story about mothering when you’re pinned to a wall with threats coming at you in all corners. When you don’t have the luxury of choices and war turns your world upside down, when I love yous aren’t easy to utter because you are just trying to stay afloat, love is obvious in your actions, don’t need to be stated. That sometimes in trying to be your child’s salvation, you may just forget that they too have plans of their own and time doesn’t stand still when you leave. It is terribly missing your ‘Mother Country’ while trying to adapt to your adoptive one, because the country you left never remains the same nor do the people you had to leave behind. It is about sacrifice but will it all be worth it in the end, will Larisska ever make it to America? Will she continue to resent her mother? Will Nadia forever be stuck mothering someone else’s child while her own is sick on another continent in desperate need of her?

I thought this was a wonderful novel, it is not solely about the immigrant experience, it is also about motherhood, and crumbs of love some people delude themselves into accepting, as we see with Nadia and the technolog (the manager who fathers Larisska). Nadia seems to spend much of her life making assumptions about people. She is a woman who really needs to learn to let go, that sometimes you have to just flow with what destiny has in store for you. Not easy when she has had to figure out so much on her own. Yes, read it!

Publication Date: February 26, 2019

St. Martin’s Press

The publisher uses the word "urgent" in describing this work--and it is apt. This is an intelligent, compassionate and urgent look at characters whose lives are in free fall.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to Irina Reyn, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

This book was not an easy read for me. There was not nearly as much character development as in the author's previous books. The author writes beautifully, but this story didn't do it for me.

The other issue that I had was that I couldn't look up many of the Russian/Ukranian words that were sprinkled throughout and had to try and figure it out through context. That slowed down the flow of my reading and my enjoyment as well.

This is a SUBJECTIVE recommend. The writing is beautiful and lush. I just wish that I knew more about the Ukraine and Russia geopolitical issues before I read it.

Intense and intriguing, this book explores the fascinating Russian slice of NYC full of traditional foods and Russian culture. This emotive and engaging story shines a light on the complex issue of immigration - what it is to be an immigrant and the hard decision to leave your own country to make a better life for yourself and your family.

This is a story about a Ukranian woman who moves to New York and leaves her daughter in the Ukraine. Over the years, she works two jobs and continually tries to bring her daughter to the U.S. During her years in the U.S. she watches and listens for as much news as she can get on the Russia-Ukraine war, while anxiously waiting for calls from her daughter to make sure she is alive and well.

An intriguing story exists about the Russian side of New York, and how the many Russians living there keep with their traditions, continue to shop at Russian food stores, eat their traditional foods and slip back into their own language. Also surprising to me was the prejudice towards Ukranians that came out in the story.

In an emotional, unique and complex writing style, the author pens an engaging story about immigration and what it means to be an immigrant. Most importantly, she gives an account of a woman who escapes the war in her country in order to make a better life for her and her daughter.

I was excited about reading this new book by Irina Reyn, since I loved her last novel...but I was very disappointed. I found it hard to follow and felt it contained too many sub-plots and far too many characters, all with Russian names (often changed by use of diminutives), it became confusing.

There is also an expectation that one has an understanding of the politics within the Russian community and the current situation between Russia and Crimea. I am sad to say that plowing through this was just not a joy, but a real slog.

Heart wrenching a novel that will open your eyes to life as a refugee in America .Leaving your family behind leaving your heart with them working to help the survive.In today’s political climate I highly recommend this book would be excellent for book club discussion,#netgalley#Mother Country #St.Martins,

I started this book and after a while found it wasn't something I couldn't finish. Not because of the writing, I think the author did an excellent job,it was a difficult read in that the subject matter was difficult. I tried to put myself in Nadia's shoes, the choice she made to leave her daughter behind, how she felt living in a country that is overwhelming with materialistic needs and wants. A culture so completely different from her background. Yet, even with how I felt, I would give the author kudos for the telling of this story. Would I recommend this book, I would...perhaps another reader may find it not as difficult to get through.

Wow this book punches you in the gut. At some points it was hard to get through because I felt for this family. A really eye opening look at this culture and their struggles.

Reyn is a talented author who paints a vibrant setting and compelling characters. Her story was heart wrenching and engaging.

2.8 - 3

The opening was quite a nice touch and got me interested. And I expected a lot after that.

I appreciated the fact that the author wrote about the situation in Ukraine and how the people there are being treated during the war. It also made me realize how lucky some of us here in the US have simple luxuries such as convenience and vacations that none of them would be able to enjoy in their country that is stricken by war and grief.

I really wanted to like this story, but I just couldn't. There was very little showing and a lot of telling in the narration. I struggled to even connect to the main character, Nadia, let alone other characters in the story, and there were so many of them.

I personally find there was too much focus on Nadia's life in NY, and I couldn't sense her urgency of getting her daughter over to the US. I was also left blinded of her daughter's life over in Ukraine at the present moment. It would've been great to get her POV, her own chapters.

There wasn't really anything that pulled me forward in the story, and the ending was pretty much expected.

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin's Press for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are of my own.

A full review will be posted on my blog, Twitter and Goodreads closer to publication day.

This book held great emotional significance for me since my mother was also a Russian immigrant. As I read about Nadia's struggles and her hopes and dreams I could picture my mother going through many of the same experiences. With the political debates going on in our country today, this is a book that should be read by all of our politicians as it humanizes the issue and gives it heart. I thank you for giving me a copy of this book.