The Memory Keeper of Kyiv: The most powerful, important historical novel of 2022

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Set in the Ukraine in the early 1930's, Joseph Stalin has begun a holodomor - a program to set up a collective society that would eventually starve all the Ukranians to death.

This is the second book that I read about what Stalin did to the Ukrainians and how he starved them. On select Fridays, host Jason Rosenbaum will question elected officials, and shine the spotlight on the issues that matter. If you are as unfamiliar with any of the above as I was, you need to read to become better informed.This beautifully written snapshot of Ukraine’s history is both timely and heart-rending, sensitively bringing to life the culture of a nation devastated by an enemy invader. In the present-day storyline, Cassie knew that her grandmother had immigrated from Ukraine but didn't exactly know the details that encouraged that migration. Note: If you are in a depressed state of mind, please stay away from the book until you are in a stronger mental headspace.

It is the story of a Ukranian family’s survival of the Holodomor, Stalin forced starvation of Ukrainians. As an American of Ukrainian descent, I am aware of this man made tragedy through stories told by my own grandmother about her family. It is also a story of Katya after the Homodor and how she dealt with the aftermath and survivor's guilt. It doesn’t take the reader long to realise that Bobby is Katya, but we know from Katya’s chapters what happened, so we wait for Cassie to catch up.They at first tried to convince all the farmer's to join the Collective Farming system, but when they did not it was enforced upon them. I love historical fiction because facts in history books are all well and good but to experience it on the page from a personal perspective is something else. For many of her readers, this novel will be their introduction to the Holodomor, when Stalin intentionally starved to death millions of Ukrainians, then repopulated the emptied villages with Russians and Belarussians. I want to thank NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review of this book coming in May 2022.

It’s a heady finale for an author who spent 10 years chipping away at her idea for a novel, squeezing in writing sessions between her part-time job and raising two kids, now teenagers. Ukrainians today are fighting for their country with a strength and tenacity that has captivated the world, but it is impossible to deny that history is repeating itself.I originally thought this was another WWII story, however I found the single minded focus on the famine very interesting as it provided deep context on the impact it had on the people.