This is a dual-narrative, dual time book written from 1930’s Ukraine by Katya and 2004 Illinois by Cassie. It is first and foremost a story of love and loss in both time frames. Like so many books have been written using WW2 as the setting, this book uniquely uses an event I was only vaguely aware of until now, the Holodomor (forced famine) so I was both educated and kept enthralled by this story. The Katya parts are super emotional which meant I unfortunately found myself speed reading through the Cassie parts in order to find out what happened next to Katya and her Ukrainian family. I know it is a work of fiction but I keep thinking back to what poor Katya and her family went through so to become aware that it is a real event and the author used stories of what would genuinely have happened and wove them into her book is just heartrending and sobering, especially given what today’s Ukrainian people are having to suffer too.

Although I was given a free ARC kindle copy via Netgalley I will be donating the RRP of the hardcopy to a Ukraine help-fund.

A sad and hopeful telling of one of the most horrific man-made famines in history. This is a story that should be told, as every bit as horrific as the Holocaust that came after it and is especially relevant with the trouble in Ukraine that Russia is causing now.

I was given an ARC of this book that releases in May, and I am so glad that I was given the chance to read this beautiful story. One of the best parts of teaching World History is that there is always something new to learn. There are so many parts of history that I uncover over the years; much of these pieces of information come from the historical fiction books I read.

This beautiful story of resilience and moving on after loss is one of these books. I did not know that the Holodomor in the Ukraine during the 1930s was even a thing. The author’s note at the beginning shares of her writing of this book before the Russian invasion in February of Ukraine. But it shows that if we do not learn from the mistakes of the past, history WILL repeat itself.

The book is told in two POVs. Cassie (America 2004) and Katya (Ukraine 1930s). Cassie has recently lost her husband to a terrible car accident. She and her daughter, Birdie, move in with her grandmother to care for her during her last days on earth. Katya is a younger woman in love and happy when Stalin and the Soviets move into her village to force the people into Collectivism-which will begin a manmade famine (Later known as the Holodomor). Cassie finds her grandmothers journals and with the help of a new friend Nick-she is able to translate her grandmother’s (Katya) terrible story of loss and resilience as she fights to survive this terrible time in Ukraine history.

I cannot recommend this book enough. While this is not a true story per say-this was the story of millions of Ukrainians as they were faced with the terrible oppression at the hands of the Soviets and Stalin.

The timing of this novel couldn't be more unfortunate yet appropriate at the same time. Unfortunate because it shows, once again, that history repeats in rough patterns; and appropriate because as I've said before, to understand what's at stake for Ukraine in her current war with Russia, you have to go eight decades back to the Holodomor, and although this is fictional, it does help with that, and hopefully will entice readers to consult non-fiction books on the famine, such as Anne Applebaum's [book:Red Famine|33864676], which author Erin Litteken also recommends in the afterword.

This is the story of Katya Shevchenko, an Ukrainian peasant girl full of vitality and dreams for the future, whose dreams are crushed when Stalin decided to collectivise the whole of the farmland in the country by force, arresting, deporting, executing, and maliciously starving all that oppose it. Katya's family has a modest but prosperous farm that produces enough for them to live without major worries, until they're slowly deprived of it by abusive grain quotas, extremely high taxes, the arrest of their father and other family members, and murders all around of friends and neighbours, and finally having the farm collectivised. Katya, her mother, her sister, her husband and her brother-in-law are then forced to survive by eating anything they can forage or catch, even rats, worms, and crows, suffering horribly for years until there's only Katya and Kolya left, who somehow manage to escape once WWII breaks out and eventually reach America. Once there, in her last months of life she tells her story to her granddaughter so it's not lost to time.

Personally, I don't like dual-timeline narration; one timeline always drags the other timeline down and it's usually the story set in the past that suffers. It's no different here: if you read only the chapters with Katya's POV in Ukraine, the story is great, touchingly told, and very harrowing because the suffering is immense and unbearable. But the parallel present-day story of Cassie, her granddaughter is a drag. Cassie isn't interesting as a character, and she can be rather stupid at times; she never puts two and two together that the Holodomor was probably what her grandma experienced that she doesn't want to talk about, and even more incredibly, she doesn't even realise Kolya is her grandpa and has to have it mansplained by her new lover. She's the complete opposite of Katya, and although I do get she's in mourning, her pity party can get on your nerves, especially compared to Katya's experiences that are far worse but devoid of self-pity. A drag, she is.

Ideally, I think there should've been only the Holodomor storyline, which is what's going to sell this book and what the title advertises. If you try the exercise of reading only Katya's POVs and skip Cassie's, and you'll see my point. But the Holodomor storyline would also have benefited from being more elaborated on, because, frankly, it's too contained. For the most part, it reads like the whole of Ukraine is the Shevchenkos' farm, and for many chapters the story happens within the four walls of Katya & Kolya's house. You never get a sense of the time and place and events like that. There's a peasant rebellion in which one of the main characters fight, but we never see or hear of it. We don't see much if anything of the collective farm, and even less of things around the <i>oblast</i>. There are no characters outside Katya's circle, and they all come and go as the plot demands like extras in a film. We don't really see the man-made famine unfolding either, it's all told to us, sometimes infodumped; some passages read like they were directly taken from Applebaum's book, I'd say, as that book is still fresh in my memory. And so on. It's a very narrow glimpse into Ukraine, you barely see the typical sunflowers and a slice of blue sky, and at times Katya speaks like a Midwesterner than a girl from the Ukrainian countryside. So, what I'm saying is that there's not much authenticity conveyed. I'm not even sure of why exactly it's entitled "The Memory Keeper of Kyiv," because Katya is not in Kyiv at all, her village is in another <i>oblast</i>. Probably a publicity trick to take advantage of Ukraine being in the news right now?

Whatever the case, I think it's a good effort to increase awareness of the tragedy that was the Ukrainian famine, and I liked the story of Katya. I don't recall seeing any other novels with this topic, and for that alone, it's a very important book that should be read now.

The Memory Keeper of Kyliv by Erin Litteken

In the 1930s, Stalin’s activists marched through the Soviet Union, espousing the greatness of collective farming. It was the first step in creating a man-made famine that, in Ukraine, stole almost 4 million lives. Inspired by the history the world forgot, and the Russian government .
In 1929, Katya is 16 years old, surrounded by family and in love with the boy next door. When Stalin’s activists arrive in her village, it’s just a few, a little pressure to join the collective. But soon neighbors disappear, those who speak out are never seen again and every new day is uncertain.
Resistance has a price, and as desperate hunger grips the countryside, survival seems more a dream than a possibility. But, even in the darkest times, love beckons.
Seventy years later, a young widow discovers her grandmother’s journal, one that will reveal the long-buried secrets of her family’s haunted past.
I expect the author of this book ( as the rest of us ) are currently looking towards Ukraine with horror at what is happening to them as a nation.
A timely novel on the horrors of war which has come to their shore on more than one occasion.
I enjoyed the story of Katya and the hardships she and her family had to endure , and the continuation when her journals are discovered many years later.
A great plot and good characters .

If you are a fan of Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale you will devour this book. I could not turn the pages fast enough to find out what would happen next. Slava Ukrayin!!!!

“It’s the same story every time, for centuries. Everyone wants Ukraine’s fertile soil for their own, and nobody wants to let Ukrainians rule it. “

A debut author with plenty of promise writes to educate us on the past oppression of the Ukraine people as it coincides with recent parallel tragedy. She reminds us that throughout the centuries there’ve been many authoritarian leaders trying to eradicate Ukraine and its people, most famously, Stalin and now, Putin. The desire has always been to stamp out Ukrainians and take their land. Litteken, a granddaughter of a WW2 Ukrainian refugee, wants readers to learn from history….as it’s repeating itself in real-time.

While not as taut nor as refined as an established writer, Litteken, nevertheless, capably exposes Stalin’s plan to convince Ukrainians that they can have a better life and much more prosperous farms if they pool their resources and work together, class-free. Her dual timeline is set in the fictional village of Sonayshnyky, Ukraine in 1929 and in Wisconsin, USA in 2004.

“Ukraine is fertile and plentiful, and Stalin thinks we should be the breadbasket of the Soviet Union. To achieve that, he wants us to give up our land and join collective farms. This has been going on in villages all across Ukraine for months, and they could arrive here at any time.”

Litteken explores the citizens’ response and readers are aware of the pervading fear as people start disappearing in the middle of the night and rumours circulate about neighbours being deported. The fear escalates when people don’t know who to trust and they start turning on each other. As we start to understand a little of the history of this country, the author reveals Stalin’s increasing control using anything he can to crush them and take away their spirit. Readers will learn about the power of the Twenty-Five Thousanders, the elimination of kulaks, OGPU henchmen, and The Law of Five Stalks of Grain. Most well examined is the horror of Holodomor - a man-made famine that would result in nearly 28,000 Ukrainians dying each day. As I read, my outrage increased at what bullies and their anti-Ukrainian policies achieved. If you are as unfamiliar with any of the above as I was, you need to read to become better informed.

The resilience that we are seeing nowadays has been bred into these strong, united people and sentiments such as the one below show what they were and still are willing to do for their beloved land. I was shocked at the steps taken by Ukrainians and silently cheered them on as I read. Many citizens were united in their belief that it was more dangerous to sit back and do nothing while Stalin’s forces took everything from them. We see that today.

“Maybe we can’t stop them, but we can ruin what they want before they take it.”

The common threads of love, hope, resilience and loss are woven through both timelines to produce a reimagined story and an informative read about actual events in history the Russian government denies.

I was gifted this advance copy by Erin Litteken, Boldwood Books and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

Today we watch in horror as Russian forces systematically try to destroy Ukraine and her people. What most of us don’t know is that this is not the first attempt Russia has made to bring a proud nation to her knees. In 1929, the Soviet Union forced Ukraine into falling into line with collective farming, a practice that created a famine that killed four million people. Now Litteken creates a narrative in and around that time with 16 year old Katya and her family who witness what happens when anyone who questions the will of the Soviet Union. This incredible story of the Holodmor, virtually forgotten until now is more timely than ever. One of the most important books of 2022, this is sadly, a case of history repeating itself, made possible, in large part, by our collective refusal to remember and learn from the past