I generally make it through fiction much more quickly than nonfiction - Strong Roots was an exception there. As a memoir, perhaps it isn't surprising that the story flows as well as any novel, but I still found it to be more captivating than most of its genre. Strong Roots is such a beautiful tale about Olia and her family's ancestry in Ukraine throughout the past 100+ years. It is so well-written and is such a topical region to read about. I highly suggest reading Strong Roots!

This beautiful memoir, from a respected Ukrainian chef and food writer , does so much to take readers beyond the headlines and social media stories to tell the real story of what it means to be Ukrainian, and how the war is just one more hardship in generations of hardship for this exceptionally strong and proud nation. She shares the stories of four generations of her own family, including a grandmother's deportation to the wintry Russian wilderness, and her own parents' growing up under imposed Soviet culture, not being allowed to honor their own traditions or speak their own language. Today, she fights to make sure that her own young son grows up knowing his heritage. An excellent title.