The Memory Keeper of Kyiv was not my favorite. Split between the past and the present, the book lost its power in the weak and uninteresting plot line of Cassie and her somewhat cliche romance with the boy next door (one star for Cassie's story). Her grandmother's story, however, was remarkable, horrifying and painful to read, but drew me in and kept me turning pages. The book would have been intense and beautifully powerful if just told in 1929 by Katya (four stars for Katya's story).

I had the immense pleasure of reading an advanced copy of the book "Memory Keeper of Kyiv" by Erin Litteken and it was a Spectacular book! The book transitions between current time, 2004, and the past in Ukraine starting in year 1929, telling the stories of Katya and Cassie.
The novel recounts the harrowing strength, loss and survival that young Katya endures through during the Holodomor in Ukraine during the rein of Stalin while at the same time following the story of her granddaughter Cassie as she struggles through the loss of her own husband. Cassie comes to live with her grandmother, affectionately named ‘Bobby’ after the death of her husband. Bobby, feeling like her life is coming to an end, pleads with her granddaughter to read her journal and understand her past.
With the help of a handsome neighbor Cassie learns about all of her grandmothers horrors and losses that she went through while living through the Ukrainian Holodomor, while at the same time coming to grips with her own losses and finding the strength to keep on living.
Reading this book I was pulled into the struggles of Katya as she did her best to survive genocide while losing all the people she loves. The book wrapped you up into the story itself and carried you along as you learned of the Ukrainian culture, love, loss, food and survival. I have a whole new understanding of a period of history that I have previously never heard about in school, empowering me to read and learn more.

I hadn’t read anything about Ukraine history before and this book was amazing it had me from the moment I picked it up.

How the Ukrainian people survived this it just shows you what strong people they are. It just shows how Stalin treated the people and if they disagreed with what he and his army asked they would be deported or shot. Then they had to deal with the Germans when World War II broke out. Now they are going through a hardship just now.

I needed my tissues ready as it is such a heartbreaking story how in the end you got happiness and it was a harrowing story.

Would recommend this book.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read the book in exchange for a review.

The book is a good read. Being told through two women. One from 1929 through 1934 and one in 2004. Both must experience grief, pain, suffering and everything else.

Katya has to survive living in Ukraine while dealing with so many things during these difficult times. Cassie must live through the death of her husband and other things, including learning about her grandmother's past from a journal.

This was definitely one of my favourite books that I have read so far this year.
Normally there is one side of a time slip that isn’t as engaging as the other however that was not the case with this book. . I loved both stories equally and found myself putting the book down after a few chapters so that I could savour these characters and make them last that little bit longer.
I had no idea about the Holodomor in Ukraine before reading this book. I knew of the turmoil not many years ago but I had no idea of what went on during Stalin’s time. What a terrifying thing to live through and then have it repeated with Hitler in WWII.
Extremely well written with characters I did not want to let go of. This one will stay with me for a long time.
What a fantastic debut novel by Litteken. I look forward to reading more from this author.

A slow burn dual timeline story that wrecked me emotionally.

Cassie is a young widow in 2004 trying to rebuild her life after her husbands death she begins reading her Grandmother’s journals enlisting the help of a sexy neighbour to translate them from the original Ukrainian.

Katya is a young farm girl in love with her childhood friend when Stalin’s Soviets take over her village. Over the next few years in the early 1930s they use fear and forced famine as a weapon destroying Katya’s life in the cruellest and most inhumane ways.

This story tells the real truth behind a forgotten and often lied about period in Ukrainian history a time called Holodomor or terror famine, it exposes the worst acts of humanity but also shows the way love can blossom in even the darkest places. Made more poynant by the current Russian Invasion of Ukraine.

A tapestry of secrets, hardship and family dynamics this book will live in my mind for along time..

A historical fiction book that is just too close to home during the present times. Heartbreakingly real and definitely a must read

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily and it reflects my personal opinion.
This is a dual timeline book set around Bobbie and her family. The historical elements of Bobby's life are revealed through her journal which is being translated in the recent past by her granddaughter.
The author admits that the story is woven from historical data and records rather than direct anecdotal evidence but she has brought reality to this story by making it about one family from a small farming village. This has made the story realistic; it is absolutely heart-rending what the Ukranian people suffered, not in even in the name of war, and in current times it is incredible that the people from this poor nation are singled out for further mistreatment. The story is so well-written it is amazing this is a debut book from this author. I found it spell-binding and fascinating, don't miss it!

This story hit very hard with the current unrest in Ukraine. I have read many books about the Holocaust but have sadly never heard of the Holdomor. This book brought me to tears multiple times. I definitely could not put it down.

*Thank you to NetGalley, Erin Litteken and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

An incredibly heartbreaking and raw story based on the man-made famine in Ukraine caused by the Soviet Union, which causes almost 4 million innocent deaths. It’s even harder to read knowing the same history is being repeated as I’m writing this. The utter desperation of innocent civilians trying to keep them and their loved ones alive is evident throughout, and the modern day POV’s of Bobby show that it can haunt people many years after it happened.

If you have been following the invasion of Ukraine by Putin's Russian army, you may find this to be a very interesting and compelling story, even though the events take place in 1930s Ukraine. The story introduces readers to Katya in 1929, 15 and surrounded by a loving family, and a future husband name Pavlo she is passionately in love with, and a table filled with an abundance of wonderful Ukrainian food, breads (Ukraine is, after all, the breadbasket of Europe). and delicacies.
Six months later, in January 1930, Joseph Stalin begins his invasion of Ukraine, which was already part of the Soviet Union, but his goal is to get rid of the Ukrainians by starving them to death. Stalin's activists encourage the people to join them and become part of their collective farming scheme, but Katya's family resists. Those not joining the collective have high taxes inflicted on them, then their food, farming equipment, and farm animals are taken in lieu of the tax money the Russians know they don't have. The resisters begin to disappear. As things become worse, Katya's father is arrested. And it is decided she will marry Pavlo, and her sister Alina will marry his brother Kolya. But when Pavlo hears that a resistance movement is being put together in the next village, he decides he must go and fight.

Flash forward seventy years to Illinois. Cassie, a widow who lost her husband a year earlier in a car accident while take their daughter out for ice cream, has all but withdrawn from life. But then her mother convinces her to move in with her Ukrainian grandmother, whom she calls Bobby, because of her age and her recent odd behavior. Cassie hears her taking to herself, and then begins to find food hidden all around the house and yard. She also finds a diary her grandmother has been writing in, but it is in Ukrainian. Luckily, there is an unattached, handsome man named Nick living down the street who is friends with her grandmother and who knows Ukrainian. Eventually, her grandmother decides that her story needs to be told and gives Cassie permission to work on it with Nick.

Ultimately, the two stories, told in alternating chapters, come together, and I don't think you will be very surprised to hear that Katya and Bobby are the same person. If I sound like I am making light of this novel, I am not, I just don't want to give too much away, and there is a lot going on. I found myself so drawn to young Katya's story, but some of the details were really difficult to read. I knew that Stalin was cruel, but I didn't know that he had committed genocide through starvation in Ukraine (the Ukrainian word for this is the Holodomor). I felt exactly like Cassie when she learned what her grandmother had survived "How did I not know about this?" And it certainly compelled me to do some research of my own to find out more about the Holodomor.

On the other hand, I have to be honest and say I wasn't particularly interested in Cassie's story. As soon as I read about Nick, I knew where things where going to go. So yeah, that part was predictable. But she was a good vehicle for adding more information about Bobby into the story. Trauma just doesn't go away and Bobby's life after she left Ukraine up to the present needed to be included.

The Memory Keeper of Kyiv is a book that I definitely recommend and I believe it will appeal to history geeks like myself, to anyone who have been following events in present day Ukraine, and there is even enough romance for fans of that genre.

Thank you, NetGalley and Boldwood Books for granting me a review copy of this book.

<b>Note:</b> I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley.

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 denies, Erin Litteken reimagines their story.

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.

This is a story of the resilience of the human spirit, the love that sees us through our darkest hours and the true horror of what happened during the Holodomor.

This was a poignant story, especially right now with what is going on in the Ukraine. Katya was an amazingly strong human with the fight for life in her that she needed to make it through. For what is happening right now, this is a must read.

I liked this one and learned a lot about a place I knew nothing about. I felt it was well written with engaging characters and storyline. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

This is a beautifully written book about the horrible treatment of the Ukrainian people by Stalin in the 1930s. This book is a dual timeline novel. One part is of the Holodomor when approximately 4 million Ukrainians died by starvation. The second part is 2004 when the main character Katya is a grandmother and her granddaughter Cassie has come to take care of her. Cassie slowly learns of Katya's history as the book unfolds and we learn of the parallels in their lives and the strength both protagonists find within themselves to move to the future.

This book really captured my heart and I hope many read it and that no one forgets its message.

“What’s dangerous is sitting back and and doing nothing while they take everything from us.”

Though the author confirms that this story was born far before the current Russian invasion of Ukraine began, and aims to retell what she describes as a forgotten piece of history, it is definitely hard to read this book without drawing parallels to the modern situation. What shines through, of course, is the courage and resilience of the Ukranian people and the manipulation and brutality of the Russians.

“But if we don’t fight, what will become of us? You said yourself that we should fight.”

I often struggle with dual narratives, but I found this one to be really effective in that the two narratives were so obviously, closely knitted from the beginning. Cassie’s concern for Bobby, and Bobby’s night terrors, seek to highlight the horrors of war and the aftermath of it. The ‘past’ narrative almost works as a series of flash backs, making it easy to visualise and imagine what It is that haunts Bobby.

Bobby’s longstanding silence also shows the danger of keeping things to yourself, and bottled up, but also serves as a metaphor for what the Ukranian people must feel about the horrors that are described – that they have pushed to the back of people’s mind and forgotten, whilst the First World War, for example, is still talked about.

As the novel progresses, the horrors are uncovered and their impact is explored. I found myself completely drawn into the storyline and characters, hoping for an uplifting and positive outcome for the brave and wonderful characters.

A great read that I would recommend to fans of Heather Morris and Kathleen McGurl.

The Memory Keeper of Kyiv by Erin Litteken is a dual timeline historical fiction novel based around the Holodomor in Ukraine and modern day America.

Teenage Katya lives on a farm in Ukraine and has an idyllic life, until Stalin begins "The Collective" and brings about the Holodomor (a man made famine) to the citizens of Ukraine. Katya and her family must fight to survive both the famine and the activists and its heartbreaking consequences.

Seventy years later Katyas Granddaughter, Cassie, is living in Illinois and finds Katyas journal. Cassie is a widow and learning to adjust to her loss and new life. Translating the journal from Ukrainian to English gives Cassie a new purpose and helps her heal.

Both female characters are strong, impressive women who possess such resilience to the horrors life has thrown at them. I really enjoyed both their characters developing throughout the book.
The other characters are all well written, relevant to the stories and very likeable (where they should be) too.

The dual storyline flows well and the stories weave together in a really good way. Whilst I enjoyed Cassies story, and it is relevant to the novel I did prefer Katyas more.

Both Katya and Cassies stories are heartbreaking and horrifying, but I like that there are moments of humour, fun and love for both women.

The entire novel is beautifully written and the storylines instantly draw you in. The modern storyline grabs your attention as you know something has happened but you don't quite know what. And the past story, whilst filling in those gaps, is gripping as the tension builds throughout it.

Learning about the Holodomor is incredibly eye opening, and fascinating that it seems to be a forgotten atrocity! It is something I have gone away and read more on. This part of history really does need to be spoken about more (especially with the current war in Ukraine) and never forgotten.

The Memory Keeper Of Kyiv has made me cry, made me smile and kept me up far too late page turning.

I was lucky to receive an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinion. I felt this book gave me a good insight into the Ukrainian history which I truly had no idea about. This is a beautiful debut novel. I would absolutely recommend you read this now especially in light of current situation in Ukraine..

The Memory Keeper of Kyiv explores the painful history of Ukraine through two alternating viewpoints: that of Katya, set in the late 1920s to early 1930s, and that of Cassie, her twenty-something granddaughter in 2004.

Over the past few years, I’ve realised more and more how limited our knowledge is of world history. When we read about WW2, we read about it in the USA, England, France, Italy. Of course, there is the saturated market of Holocaust novels (of which there are many EXCELLENT novels) and a couple on Russia during that time in history.

But when it comes to the Eastern Bloc countries, good novels are few and far between. Of course, the current (2022) conflict in Ukraine has increased awareness, and has encouraged publishing of novels of Ukraine and her history. (I almost feel like it is a little opportunistic, but honestly, these periods in history are too important not to take the opportunity).

The Memory Keeper of Kyiv is compulsively readable. Although the writing style could do with some polishing, and is sometimes a little overly dramatic, I struggled to put it down - and found myself thinking about it when I wasn’t reading.

Erin Litteken explores themes of love, loss, and cruelty; survivor’s guilt, and the value of remembering. She addresses the (false) dichotomy of honouring the past and building a hopeful future - topics pertinent throughout history, and again now.

A major concern is the way in which Cassie “snoops” and actually invades her grandmother’s privacy. “It’s for her own good” is not an acceptable excuse, and comes across as ageist, but also poor form. Her grandmother later giving her the journal because she didn’t want to talk about her memories also seems like a bit of a cop-out. The value of communication, and even including a therapist, could have made a difference here.

I prefer Katya’s chapters to Cassie’s - it is difficult for me to buy into the arcs of Birdie’s selective mutism, and Cassie’s developing romance. That said, the value of family is beautifully depicted.

I suggest reading this with a pen and paper, then writing down all the Ukranian terms and looking them up - there is so much interesting Ukranian food to discover!

Despite some stylistic issues, I highly recommend this novel to lovers of historical fiction.

Wow. It's 1 am and I'm just finishing this one. I'm not even sure what to say. Some books come out in a timely fashion. And this is a prime example. I knew of the Holomodor going into this book. And I warn other readers there are descriptions in here that are not for the faint hearted. What this book does is provide a gritty, relatable, fiction account of the Holomodor and the suffering of the Ukrainian people leading up to WWII.

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine front and center in world affairs, this book comes out as a reminder that history often repeats itself.

While parts of the modern day timeliness of this story aren't as compeling as Katyas story, I will let it pass. The author does a heartfelt and tragic detailing of a time period and collective experience of trauma that important. This is why historical fiction is my favorite. I don't read it for the fluff...I read it for the Google rabbit holes it sends me down. This was definitely worth the read.

Thank you Erin Litteken and Netgalley for the free ebook arc in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed this one.

Had I not read Erin Litteken’s bio prior to reading her debut novel, I have no doubt it would have still been painfully and poignantly obvious that this story has personal roots. The depth found here is just something that can’t be taught; it has a connection that you can curate but not create, and has a heart that spins a tragic story into hope. Simply put, The Memory Keeper of Kyiv is powerful, inspiring, heart wrenching, and as near perfection as they come.

Alternating between 1930’s Ukraine and early 2000s United States, The Memory Keeper of Kyiv brings together four generations of a family who never realized how little they knew about themselves, and each other.

In 2004, 31 year old Cassie is living in Wisconsin and failing to put her life back together after the tragic death of her husband the previous year. Her five year old daughter Birdie hasn’t spoken a word in 15 months, lives in too small pajamas, and writer Cassie’s laptop sits buried under a pile of who knows what. At the urging of her mother Anna, she returns home to Illinois to help her aging grandmother Bobby, whose life before Anna the family knows surprisingly little about.

In 1929, 16 year old Katya is living a happy life in her small Ukrainian village; her family’s farm is thriving, and she is going to marry her beloved boy next door. Over the next five years, Stalin’s collectivism policies transform from an annoyance into an epic and tragic famine, and Kayta’s world shatters piece by piece. The lose and hardships she endures will shape the rest of her life, and for seventy years she stays silent. Through a journal she has kept since her youth and a special connection with great-granddaughter Birdie, she finally breaks her silence, allowing her to finally find true peace and helping her granddaughter come to terms with her own grief.

Drawing on personal family stories, oral histories and clearly deep research, Erin Litteken transports you to a dark period in history that is tragically too little known. Daily life in Katya’s Old World in sprinkled with enough detail to let you see what she sees, without sinking into the mundane; I want to sit in Katya’s kitchen while her mother cooks varenyky, peer from the barnloft as Tato tends to the animals, and enjoy the simplicity of walking to the next farm to steal a kiss from Pavlo. On the other side, you can feel in your bones when she lies starving and shivering on the bed she once shared with her beloved sister, and may cry ugly elephant tears each time another loss or impossible decision rears its ugly head.

Don’t start reading after dinner, you plan on being sleep deprived the next day - this captivating novel will keep you awake, steal your heart, crush your spirit, and hopefully remind you that we must learn from the past or be doomed to repeat it.