The Memory Keeper of Kiev

I went to bed at five a.m yesterday. The reason? I had to finish my book. I needed a happy ending. I needed to know the whole story.

The novel I was reading was written by Erin Litteken and it's her first. Even though there are a few scenes that can be considered somewhat corny, the final product is spectacular. One of the best books I've read this year.

Apart from being of Ukrainian descent, Litteken has researched extensively before writing this story.

There are two main narratives: the first takes place in Ukraine in 1932 and 1933 when Stalin's minions imposed a system of agricultural collectives that consisted on robbing the citizens of all their possessions and making them work for the state. Those who refused to cooperate were either killed or taken to Siberia. Many more died of starvation. They had to work for hours and were only fed a piece of bread and some weak soup if they were lucky. The worst bit is that there was plenty of food that was sometimes even left to rot.

The other part of the story tells us about a young widow trying to decipher her Ukrainian grandmother's diary to find out about her past, a past she's never talked about. As you can imagine, both threads are interconnected.

Unfortunately, the Holomodor, also known as the Terror Famine or the Great Famine, is a historical event very few people know about. That's what Litteken is trying to change. Stalin tried to hide the death of around 4.5 million Ukrainians and some journalists lied. Walter Duranty, who worked for the New York Times, got a Pulitzer Prize for his articles about Russia, but he didn't tell the truth. He never mentioned the Holomodor. Duranty had a nice apartment in Moscow and was probably afraid of Stalin as well.

Lots of documents were destroyed before the dissolution of the USSR and that's why we don't have the whole picture, even though there has been research in the 21st century.

I've loved every minute of this novel, but it's also made me deeply sad. Sometimes I'm even ashamed of being a human being. Lest we forget? We do keep on forgetting. And more suffering is inflicted on innocent human beings. Again and again.

If you like historical fiction, if you like characters that feel real, this is the book for you. Most of the time I believed I was there with Katya and her pain was my pain.

Below I'd like to share a letter the author has written for her readers:

Dear readers,

The seeds of this story began in my mind even before Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, and now I sit drafting this letter while the news of Russia's brutal attack on Ukraine, " its cities, its civilians, its culture," plays on the news in the background. I never imagined the release of my novel on a past oppression of the Ukrainian people would coincide with such a parallel tragedy.

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. It's horrifying, and we must do better.

As the granddaughter of a Ukrainian refugee from WW2, the poignancy of this war devastates me. While I can't change history, we can all learn from it and do something to help the Ukrainian people today.

My heart goes out to the brave Ukrainians defending their country, their culture, and their lives, both then and now.

Slava Ukrayini!

Erin Litteken