'The first-person account, based on the real-life Krystia's memories as told to Skrypuch, reads like a memoir despite the historically accurate body count, it retains a sense of hope. Gripping, harsh, and superbly written.' - Kirkus Reviews, starred review Krystia and Maria are survivors, and they never give up, drawing strength from remembering their parents' belief in them as they struggle to stay alive. this is ultimately a story of the strength of the human spirit. * 'Told in alternating chapters narrated in the first person by Ukrainian sisters Krystia, 16, and Maria, 14, this gripping novel tells a lesser-known story of the war's horror. Compassionate 12-year-old Nyl narrates the harrowing story.Juxtaposing concepts of industrialization with the rhythms of farm life, the story and its grim events, together with an elucidative author's note, provide important historical context around history that has resonance for current events.' - Publishers Weekly 'In a timely, hard-hitting novel, Forchuk ( Traitors Among Us) portrays the manufactured famine Holodomor ('murder by hunger') that Stalinists inflicted on Soviet Ukrainian farmers in the early 1930s. “Unflinching.Skrypuch handles difficult themes with intelligence and uldn’t be timelier today.” - The New York Times Book Review Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch brings this deeply resonant, and remarkably timely, historical world to life in a story about unity, perseverance, and a people's determination to overcome.

Known as the Holodomor, or death by starvation, Ukraine's Famine-Genocide in the 1930s was deliberately caused by the Soviets to erase the Ukrainian people and culture. But can they survive long enough to succeed? Something is very wrong, and Alice is determined to help.ĭesperate, Nyl and Alice come up with an audacious plan that could save both of them - and their community. until Alice realizes that the people suffering the most are all ethnically Ukrainian, like Nyl.

but a murderous plan leading all the way to Stalin.Īlice has recently arrived from Canada with her father, who is here to work for the Soviets.

On top of bad harvests and a harsh winter, conditions worsen until it's clear the lack of food is not just chance. Ever since the Soviet dictator, Stalin, started to take control of farms like the one Nyl's family lives on, there is less and less food to go around. From acclaimed author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, this incredibly gripping and timely story set during the Holodomor in 1930s Ukraine introduces young readers to a pivotal moment in history- and how it relates to the events of today.

Winterkill scholastic