Many thanks to #NetGalley and #BoldwoodBooks for allowing me the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of The Memory Keeper of Kyiv by debut author Erin Litteken. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.
First let me say that I feel privileged to have been able to read this book written by an author of Ukrainian descent in this time when news of Ukraine is definitely one of the dominating news stories of our time. Growing up in Canada, very little was taught to me in our school system about Ukraine and so I have been on a learning quest. Although this book is fictional, it is inspired by real events that took place in what is now known as the "Holodomor" or "death by hunger" and appears to have been extremely well researched.
The novel is told in dual timeline - the reader meets Cassie in 2004 USA and and Katya in 1929 Ukraine. A year after the loss of her husband in a dreadful car accident, Cassie is still grieving and her daughter has stopped talking. When her mother brings news that Cassie's "Bobby" (grandmother) is in poor health and could benefit from Cassie's presence, she reluctantly packs up and moves to live with her grandmother. Will this bring her the opportunity to let go of her grief and move forward with life? As her grandmother's memory fades, will Cassie learn her story before it is too late? What terrible things happened in "Bobby's" life that she has never been able to share with her family? Who is Nick, the neighbour who so conveniently speaks Ukrainian and always seems to be around when help is needed?
In 1929, Katya is a young girl with a newly discovered love for a childhood playmate and the hope of a happy future ahead. Things quickly take a turn for the worse as Russian activists arrive virtually forcing local farmers to sign away their lands to the "collective". Woe betide those who dare to speak out against them or those who are viewed as being the "elite". They will be the first to disappear. Families will be decimated and food will be a luxury given to few, even as filled grain bins are allowed to rot. Katya lives through terrible times losing those she loves yet somehow manages to hang on and survive. Though she survives, she struggles with forgiving herself for living when others could not. Can she find happiness out of despair? Will her story help ease the pain in Cassie's heart?
The entwining of Cassie and Katya's stories kept me glued to my e-reader as I read. There were parts of this story that were difficult to read. Man's inhumanity to fellow humans is horrific as anyone who follows the news today can clearly see. The history entwined throughout this novel speaks to the resilience of the Ukrainian people who have grappled with despair and war more than once in the past. It amazes me how strong they are as a people. I would definitely recommend this book to others who would like a better understanding of the past and how it affected those who lived through it and those who came after.

Absolutely heartbreaking and horrific the atrocities the Ukrainian people suffered during the Holodomor in the 1930s. This historical fiction book broke my heart into a million pieces. It’s an important story to learn from and is especially timely. The story is told in dual timelines, 1930s Ukraine and present day U.S., and dual POV and is so well-done. It’s the type of book that will make you hold your loved ones closer and be grateful for all that you have.

My Thoughts:
This is a fictionalised account of the enforced famine inflicted on the people of Ukraine by Joseph Stalin. It tells of the <strong>Holodomor</strong> and the scars and the echoes from the past to the present. The tale is told in two points of view; one Katya an Ukanian teenager in the early 1930's and Cassie a grieving widow in early 2000's America.

Katya is witness to the life and everything she knows being stripped before eyes and Cassie, though knowing she comes from Ukranian stock knows nothing of her family history, culture or the language of Ukraine.

This powerful tale skillfully weaves these two narratives together and we explore how Cassie learns through her grandmother's decent into dementia and memories that surface makes Cassie confront her families past and secrets that have been kept secret for decades.


This is a book that urges you to read it and will take a range of emotions.</p>A superb piece of writing that I think all readers should enjoy. Highly recommended and commended. Grab a copy and read it

This book shook me to my core. My knowledge of the Holodomor or the death by hunger, was embarrassingly limited until I read The Memory Keeper of Kyiv. Erin Littleken opened my eyes to the horror that the Ukrainians went through from 1932-1933, when Stalin decided to make everyone join the collective farms. Where slowly everything began to belong to the state. Thier fields of grain, their gardens, the trees in the woods that they used for firewood. You name it, it belonged to Russia. If you hid it or tried to steal to keep your family alive you were either taken or shot. Stalin continued upping the quota for food. Leading to widespread famine. The amount of time that Litteken has taken to research this book is extremely apparent. The tears will gather, your stomach will clinch, and you will hold your breath, as you make your way through this immensely important read.

The Memory Keeper of Kyiv is a book I will not soon forget. It is powerful, will strike your every emotion, and your anger will rise deep from within. I have struggled writing a review that brings forth the richness and the beauty that Litteken puts forth. Her details will transport you to Ukraine in the early 1930s. Where you can see the sunflower castle bending in the wind, the golden wheat fields waving in the sunshine. The content is vivid, horrifying, and needs to be read.

The characters are described in such a way that you will feel their pain, their loss, and the strong determination to survive. The only character that I could not connect with is Bobby's granddaughter Cassie. I found her harsh and abrasive to everyone. Bobby on the other hand I feel in love with. She is a force to be reckoned with and is tough as nails. This woman could take on an entire army all on her own. Through these characters the past will draw you in, the stories will unfold, and your heart will break little by little. Thank you to Erin Litteken and Boldwood Books for this astounding read.

This book could not be more relevant to today. A dual time-line story sharing Ukraine’s heartbreaking history. The characters are strong and powerful. The story is heartbreak, yet also shows the power of love and family.

Told in two different perspectives, during two different times and places. In the 1930’s we follow Katya, a young woman in Ukraine, who lives through the horrors when Stalin’s activists invade her village. Seventy years later, we follow Cassie, a young woman who has lived her own tragedies. She discovers her grandmother’s journal and learns about the horrors of her family’s past.

Thank you netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

This book is a stark reminder of the horrors Russia has been inflicting on the country of #Ukraine since at least the early 1900’s. It focuses on a forced famine at the hands of Joseph Stalin in the late 1920’s/early 1930’s. A piece of history I was unaware of before reading, which always makes me appreciate historical fiction.

This is a story of love and loss, of heartbreaking resilience and survival, of people who faced the worst of humanity and somehow came out on the other side and were able to make a life for themselves. It’s a pretty incredible inspired by true events.

There are dual timelines, one in the past one in present day, which reminded me a lot of ‘The Things We Cannot Say’ if you’ve read that. Of course, as the story from the past comes to light in the present, there are valuable lessons learned.

Overall, I really appreciated this one and would recommend it. Especially with everything that is happening now— it’s a reminder that history has a way of repeating itself, especially if we forget the past, rather than learn from it.

This is an extremely powerful and moving story but incredibly harrowing, although heartwarming at the end.

The story involves Cassie, a young widow, and her grandmother Katya. When the book begins, Cassie is still grieving for her husband and her little daughter doesn't speak. The house is in a mess. Cassie's mother persuades her to live with her grandmother, Bobby. It's difficult there, though, because Cassie discovers that Bobby is hiding food and she is also asking Alina to 'forgive her'. Cassie thinks that Bobby's journal might help her discover what's wrong, but she can't read Ukrainian. Perhaps,a neighbour Nick can help?

Katya has lived through great ordeals. She is happily married when Stalin's men come to take everything away from the 'kulaks' and start collectivisation, a process which leads to terrible famine, millions of deaths, and destruction. Katya has to cope with dreadful sorrows. The truth about the Ukrainian famine is still not well-known, so it is good that people are becoming more aware of it, and this novel will help to do that.

This is certainly a memorable and resonant novel, especially when poor Ukraine is enduring such dark and oppressive times with this dreadful war.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Erin Litteken may be a debut author, but this book is written with a wonderful grasp of storytelling and wordsmithing. The Memory Keeper of Kyiv struck me to my very core. We all know about he horrors of the Holocaust, but I am embarrassed to say that prior to reading this book I knew nothing about the Holodomor that was perpetrated in Ukraine during 1932 and 1933 by Stalin's regime. Of course, this is a very timely story as Ukraine is once again under attack by Russia. A portion of each sale of The Memory Keeper of Kyiv is being donated by Boldwood Books to DEC's Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

This dual timeline novel tells the story of Katya and her family as they work to survive in Ukrain in the early 1930s, a story filled with suffering and loss as well as hope and love. It also tells the story of Cassie, Katya's granddaughter, in the United States in the early 2000s as she and her mother discover their family history, a history that provides not only answers to their many questions, but also encouragement for Cassie's hurting heart.

Nothing I could write here would do this book justice without telling more than readers would want revealed. Let me just say that this is a book that shouldn't be missed. Erin Litteken is a gifted author, and this book is a valuable gift to readers. In the Author's Note at the end of the book Litteken tells readers that she plans a second novel based on her own Ukrainian ancestors' story. I look forward to this offering. I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy of The Memory Keeper of Kyiv from Boldwood Books via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own.

I can sometimes be a bit skeptical about novels released with auspicious timing, but I came to this novel with an open mind, and I’m so pleased I did. It’s a beautifully written, meticulously researched novel that deftly portrays a painful period in Ukrainian history.

Ukraine’s Holodomor period – also known as the Great Famine – is the period between 1932-1933. This was a man-made famine sparked by Stalin’s insane authoritarian policies that transformed a fertile agricultural region (the breadbasket of Europe) into inefficient state-owned agricultural collectives destined to starve its residents.
The story is told naturally and in a thoroughly engaging manner, through a dual timeline narrative. In 1929, Katya is a sixteen-year-old in love with the boy next door when Stalin’s activists begin stirring up trouble in her village, trying to convince the locals to join the collectives. Attempts to convince swiftly transform into brutal coercion and forced expulsions to the gulags for those who dare question the “noble intentions” of the state. Katya and her fiancé, Pavlo, witness the brutality first-hand and the hunger, misery, suffering and pointless death inflicted on their fellow villagers by this insane ideology.

Seventy years later, recently widowed Cassie is barely making it through each day. When her grandmother suffers an accident, Cassie and her young daughter move in with her grandmother, who grew up in the Ukraine and has passed down cultural and culinary traditions, but is loath to discuss her childhood and the trauma of her past. Cassie begins to slowly unravel the tragic story of her grandmother, and the suffering of the Ukrainians who suffered under Stalin’s horrific dictatorship, through an old diary her grandmother kept in the 1920s and 1930s.

A powerful and tragic story brought to life by engaging characters, and beautifully balanced between actions and events in 1930s’ Ukraine and contemporary Illinois. It’s often the case for me with dual timelines that I am more drawn to the historical storyline, but I was equally drawn to both storylines in this novel. Having lived and worked in eastern Europe, I also appreciated the attention to details and customs, and the deftly handled story of Stalin’s brutal regime in the Ukraine. A gem of a novel and highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this novel, in exchange for an honest review.

This book was heartwrenching, it is about thr homodor or murder by hunger. For me , i am ashamed to say, it is a part of history i knew little about. This book is based on true events during the homodor. Examples People being killed or shipped off to siberia, Just for disagreeing with the goverment. How could People survive under these conditions? It is a "black" book. But it was also about innoncence, love and People s strength. It broke my heart. I highly recommend this book of all my heart. Thank you to netgalley for letting me read this e arc in exchange for an honest opinion.

This is a story told in dual timelines- going between the late 1920s/early 30s and 2004. The Holodomor (forced starvation) is something I had never heard of. I don’t understand how such a horrific piece of history isn’t taught everywhere. Reading this book is so timely as Russia is invading the Ukraine once again and using similar tactics to get what they want. I will literally tell everyone I know to read this book and become familiar with this town in history and pray it doesn’t continue to repeat itself.

Kudos to the author for shedding light on this time in history and sharing a story that was hard and beautiful to read.

Shocking, sad and beautiful. The impact of the 1930s on the Ukrainian population as they tried to tend to their farms and live their lives, falling in love and planning to marry, of Stalin’s policies is starkly told. The devastation and famine lived out in the day to day, as Katya, her family and wider just try to survive. Their bodies wasting away, their grain taken and their days filled working for the collective for very little. Love does come through, as does resilience and hope but as the book moves between the present and the 1930s, the hope is so bittersweet.

Considering that this is a debut novel, I must commend Erin Litteken for creating this tragic, haunting, and yet uplifting story. I was immediately pulled into Katya’s tragic world and learned about an element of history that I had been oblivious to. 1930’s Ukraine sounds like the hell on earth that my dad described to me, and I found the descriptions of the dreadful treatment of the Ukrainian farming families abhorrent.
This book works in a dual timeline format. We hear from Katya and her family and then switch to a more modern-day perspective from newly widowed Cassie in 2004. As the result of an horrendous car crash, which took her husband’s life, Cassie’s daughter, Birdie, has not uttered a word. Assured that there’s nothing physically wrong with her, Cassie knows that it’s just a case of waiting and hoping. She returns to stay with her grandmother, Bobby, to both bring Cassie nearer to her mother and to keep a watchful eye over her grandmother’s deteriorating health.
I found that the switching between timelines helped me to reconcile what I was reading with how little I had known about the previous Ukrainian struggles. I followed Katya’s desperate story and then found respite in Cassie’s world. I then found myself eager to return to Katya and praying for some easier experiences for her and her family.
The connection between Bobby and Birdie is quite magical and I found their relationship to be completely uplifting. As Cassie works her way through her grandmother’s journal, the truths of the horrors that she witnessed are brought to the forefront and the revelations have a massive impact on their lives.
This is not an easy read, by any standards, but it is an essential read and I am grateful for the opportunity to be an advance reader and to help spread the word about this precious story.

The Memory Keeper of Kyiv is not a book I would normally choose as I do not normally read historical fiction but with the war and suffering happening in Ukraine today I thought it was a book I should read. Before reading this I had no idea what Holodomor was and now after reading this I have gone on to learn more about it.
The Memory Keeper of Kyiv is an emotional and difficult read but I would highly recommend it even if the genre isn't one you would normally read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for my ARC.

I was granted eARC access to The Memory Keeper of Kyiv by Erin Litteken by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

The Memory Keeper of Kyiv is a classic split-timeline story of women two generations apart in the same family experiencing losses and tragedy, and how the younger discovering this about the elder changes their relationship and the younger woman's outlook on the future. In this case, the women are Ukrainian. The elder woman's portion of the story, told mostly through diary entries, takes place in 1929 and the early 1930s during Stalin's oppression of the country in the midst of a global depression, while the younger woman's story takes place in 2004 near the beginning of the country's Orange Revolution.

What I loved about this book was how much I connected with all of the characters, but young Katya in the journals in particular. These women felt real, fully formed, and compelling, and I just wanted to hold them all and console them during the strings of tragedies they were living through. What I didn't love so much was that the book doesn't follow its own rules for looking into the past. We're supposed to understand that this at least starts exclusively as journal entries, but we get a whole lot of journal content before our 2004 character begins to get translations (as she doesn't speak/read the correct language herself.)

Overall my impression is that this book is well written and that those who enjoy this variety of historical fiction will eat it up. With that said, strip away the specifics of the setting (Ukraine in 1929/1930 and 2004) and this book reads exactly the same as many other grandchild understands their grandparents better after hearing about their past experiences that connect to the present sort of novels I've read before. I think this book will likely receive a little more interest from readers outside of the genre readership just because of the release timing given what's taking place in Ukraine right now and I do think this is a great book to potentially grab more readers for the genre, so that's a big plus!

Thank you Net Galley and Boldwood Books for an ARC of The Memory Keeper of Kyiv for an honest review of this book. I just finished this book and I think it will stick with me for a long time. This is an historical fiction story with dual timelines from the 1930s Ukraine and the early 2000s Illinois, US. The 1930s storyline tells the story of survival from the Holodomor where the Soviets and Stalin were taking everything from the citizens telling them that the collectivization would save everyone. In reality, so many Ukrainians perished from lack of food to being sent to gulags in Siberia. (This fictionalized tale hits too close to home with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.) The current day time line details how the granddaughter of a Ukrainian survivor finds out about the horrors of what her grandmother went through to survive and her second chance at love and a family after they were all wiped out from starvation or cruel bullets. I had never really understood what the Holodomor really was and this story helps to give a glimpse into the devastation and what people were able to do to survive. This will probably be one of my top reads for the entire year! My heart goes out the Ukrainian people that continue to fight for their country as they have done for the last hundred and beyond.

Oh my goodness! This is definitely not only a timely book (even though the author finished it before the war on the Ukraine), but also an incredibly written book. The story is based on Erin Litteken’s ancestors who lived in the Ukraine during the Holodormor which took place from 1932-33. This was not in my history books and I am glad to have learned about it. It should be required reading in high school. The story has stayed with me even several days after finishing it.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lord this book has been an education. Before starting this I read up on the Holodomor atrocity which decimated Ukraine as well as other parts of the former Soviet bloc, as a history teacher I had not even heard about this terrible event in history. I have read fictional and factual books on Stalins great idea of Collectivism, but this deliberate attempt to de-humanised and de-centralise an entire nation was a massive shock to my psyche. Reading this against the background of the present atrocities in Ukraine was especially difficult. We also hope that the new generation will learn from things of the past but no.
Both Katya and Cassies' story run alongside each other and I found Cassie and her daughter Birdie a welcome relief throughout. This book is hard to read, heartbreaking and uplifting. I experienced real anger at man's inhumanity to man but as I said Cassie brought me back. I cannot recommend this book highly enough especially in light of recent events- you will cry, I promise but you will ultimately admire the human spirit and its resilience in the face of insurmountable hardship. My very grateful thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of The Memory Keeper of Kyiv, Boldwood Books and especially the author Erin for an amazing book. It will live with me for a long time

This is an incredibility timely story about, at least to me, a very little known time in Ukraine. The Holodomor killed about 13% of the Ukrainian population and it was entirely manmade. I am so glad this book was written to let people know about this terrible time in history. The book itself is wonderfully written in a dual timeline. It is written during the Holodomor and in the present. The Holodomor time is full of love, determination, and heartbreak. It was at times hard to read about the content but the author writes in a way that you feel the impact of the story without going into excessive details of the horrors. In the authors note she writes what is real and what is fiction and that is so important to know. This is a great historical fiction novel that everyone should read for the subject matter and for the writing. I very much look forward to reading more books by Erin Litteken.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

I love reading historical fiction and prior to reading this story I’d never heard of Holodomor-the great famine. The descriptions will make you sad as well as shock you. It’s about loss, love and traditions, as well as family.

Finding it hard to cope her mother asks to go and stay with her grandmother Bobby. Finding a journal of hers, Cassie didn’t know anything about what happened in her past, what she went through, that is until she’s worked out what was written. Cassie decides to share what’s written with other people so that they too can know about what others endured.

A must read, beautifully written.