A wonderful chronicle of a Jewish family in Belarus beginning in the early 20 th century and culminating in its destruction in Hitlers holocaust A cast of remarkable characters illuminates this novel : The fiery Rachel and her soft spoken husband Yacov Ivanovsky,Rachels father the respected and tough Abraham Rakhlenko,the colourful Khaim Yagudin and The Ivanovsky children includin the narrator,Boris and the beautiful Dina. We grow to know and love the characters And it with a profound sense of horror and tragedy that we see their cruel destruction at the hands of the Nazis

It is however through the few survivors such as Boris Ivanovsky and his sister Lyuda and the young Olya that we find hope . I cannot help however being frustrated by the ommission of the horrors of the Bolshevik Revolution and the Stalin years even though it is clear that due to censorship in the Soviet Union when the book was written in the 1970's, the writer could only hint at these things

You know, I say this all the time, but I have really got to learn Russian one of these days. This time the reason I wish I knew the language is because I'd like to see if the original of Heavy Sand has the same plainspoken, conversational tone which makes the English translation so engaging. It doesn't take long to get [wrapped up] into the story of the Rakhlenko family and to fall in love with all the characters, from the noble to the scoundrels, with all shades of messy humanity in between. At times you don't even feel as if you're reading a novel but hearing a good friend masterfully tell his story and those of his parents and grandparents. This is perhaps the most unpretentious great novel I've ever read.

The small events of the novel's first half blend seamlessly into the world events of the war and the destruction of the entire village, and in both times and places you feel utterly transfixed by what is happening to the people of this family and their village. And despite its depressing setting, Heavy Sand ends on a relatively uplifting note. There is plenty of horror in the book, but also plenty of hope.

I didn't want this book to be over. Highly recommended!

This book caught me with the first paragraph and never let go. (I found it browsing in a recycled store.) This epic story of family and romantic love, community, momentous change (the Russian Revolution) and war (the Nazi invasion and genocide) is told in the simple, conversational style of a master storyteller. It has the authentic an compelling voice of a participant, or witness to the events. (I find myself wondering about Rybakov... who is he? Did he live through these times? Is this his family's story? It feels that real.) This book is about far more than the Nazi attrocities (which occupy only about the last 1/4 of the book). It is really about human nature, and the nature of relationships under all sorts of conditions. It is one of the most moving and memorable works I have read, and it is truly a loss that it is out of print. Do search it out.

This fanciful, charming story was written by a girl who was only 12 at the time she came up with the idea! Knowing this, it has inspired me to follow my dreams and not wait until I 'grow up.' The way Miss De Sena uses sophisticated, yet understandable language, with a colorful story, is amazing. A great read for any age, and a great inspiration!

This book is a great story for people of all ages to enjoy. It is about a magical babushka owned by Babu. It has many adventures in many different places. Some of the places the babushka travels to are Babu's cottage, a carpenter's home, and a boat. Bronwen DeSena, the author, is very talented and expresses her thoughts in a very colorful way. Because of this, her book is funny and easy to enjoy. Toddlers to adults can have a lot of laughs following the babushka's journeys. So buy and read this delighful book!

this beautiful story was written by a young girl (only 12!) and is sure to go down as a classic in children's literature. this open-ended story is a wonderful one because the moral is that if you share your good fortune with someone else, everybody will be satisfied and happy. gotta go, bye!

Sara's Children is an unforgetable lesson and demonstration of human endurance, compassion and evil.

In the telling of the miraculous survival of the holocaust by 5 siblings, the author, Suzan Hagstrom, has spared the reader much detailed graphic horror of the holocaust making the book bearable reading for the faint at heart. As a child growing up during World War II in a military town, I heard whipsers of the Jews disappearing in Europe, saw accounts in the newsreels at the local movie theatre and feared to read and/or see it again.

Suzan Hagstrom did a beautiful job of making the reading of this brave family and their survival a memorable experience. A must read to learn of a terrible time in history and the unbeleivable capacity of man's inhumanity to man.

The mere fact that five children of a family survived the horrendous ordeals of Nazi concentration camps is a miraculous story and one that needed to be told. To be told by an author that has a historian's scholarly approach to researching the facts, as well as having the ability to give an extremely realistic depiction of the Jewish situation, makes this book totally amazing, unlike other accounts of the Holocaust that I have read. At the beginning of the book, there was joy and hope for the Garfinkle family, then terrible evens that took them to the extremes of sadness and despair, to the present time of Sara's surviving children to experience joy and hope once more. Suzan Hagstrom has written a book that is both documented and personalized by her style of writing and her personal interviews with the surviving Garfinkle family that brings the times and the characters together in an unforgettable saga. Suzan's dedication to "telling" this story is amazing, by writing this book in her "spare time". She is to be commended for her excellent work and determination. I will recommend this book to friends and also my book club!

Sara's Children is about the survival of 4 sisters and 1 brother before, during and after the Holocaust. The gradual signs of anti-Semitism are presented in such a subtle and realistic fashion that it's chilling to read. The psychological terror they endured in the camps almost seems worse than the deprivation. In spite of the horrible, depressing subject, this book is uplifting and inspirational because you come to know this loving, courageous family. The fact that they had the strength and faith to survive is nothing short of a miracle. The Garfinkels story needed to be told and they are fortunate to have had Ms. Hagstrom tell it. Her journalistic background really lent itself to the telling of a story such as this as she chronicled the events in such a clear, clean and gripping way. It is very well researched and she has done a wonderful job in reaching her readers.
This book should be recommended reading in high schools.

This is a well written account of actions in WWII. It is not just a 'gimick' of a story because the author was a woman. Man or woman, this book rates up there with all other good first person experiences in WWII. The story of the entrapment behind German lines of her team, and their methods of escape, is as intriquing as any mystery or adventure book. Buy this one if you like war stories, WWII, or want to learn more about the Russian/German battles.

This is a very interesting autobiography of a woman soldier in the Red Army during World War 2. Many people do not know over million women fought in combat in the Soviet Union. I don't know why this book is called On the Road to Stalingrad, because it is not about the battle of Stalingrad. Zoya fought in Sevastopol to liberate the Ukraine. She was not special or a heroine, she was just doing her job, which was a Maxim Machegun operator. She was wounded and went back to the front. The end of the biography is very poignant as she describes what happened to all her comrades. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the War.

This is a very good book. I read the whole thing on a flight to Russia. It is about a Russian woman who joined the army when Hitler attacked Ukraine. She fought in the famous regiment of Chapeyev. She was wounded, but returned to fight. This book shows how difficult was the war, when everybody was needed to fight. If you have interest in World War 2 you will like this auto-biogreaphy.

The novel "Alicia" by, Alicia Appleman-Jurman, is about a girl trying to live as a Jew in Poland during World War Two. Alicia is happy. She lives with her mother, father, and four brothers. Everything is wonderful in her life, she goes to school, she has friends, and is surrounded by those who love her. When one of Alicia's brothers gets permission to go away to school in another city, no one thinks anything about it. When his letters start sounding odd, unlike the happy, bubbley, 17 year old boy, the family gets suspicious. Suddenly, there are no letters. He trys to come home, but is caught, and killed. Little things happen to almost everyone in Alicia's family, until its just her and her mother. With her father, and all four brothers dead, the world is a hard and lonely place for Alicia. Provideing food is getting hard. They are living on 1 slice of bread each, and maybe some sour milk or a quick drink from a stream, for all day long. When they finally think they war is over, come out of hiding, and try to live a normal life, tragity strikes again. Will Alicia ever be able to survive the war? Will her life ever be somewhat normal? I really enjoyed this book, and I think anyone who wants to get a first-hand account of the Holocaust, through a teenage girls eyes, should read "Alicia".

This is perhaps the best book on the holocaust EVER written!!! Alicia really has done a stunning job on this book; not a detail left out! And it is SO gripping! This story has anger and hatred towards Hitler and his followers, of course, but it is much more emotional, more intimate. This story has much more tenderness than any other Holocaust story I have EVER read; even the hardest, most callous person(I am the stoic type) would be left sobbing from this story.
Alicia has a close and VERY loving family(a rarity nowadays, which is quite a pity): both parents, three older brothers and one younger one. Your heart is torn to pieces as each of the family is killed one by one. After her mother was killed and she had to flee Buczacz, she finds herself working for farmers and trying to help her fellow Jews, and even saves some Russian partisans from death. When she is congradulated by the Russian army, she wishes to return to Buczacz. But(the way I see it) she seems to have somewhat of a crush on one of the partisans she saved(Kola, I think his name is) and is hesitant on leaving.
This whole book is remarkable! But Miss Jurman must have gone through the most dreadful pain having to remember all these terrible memories. But her work has not at all been in vain. Brava Alicia! I hope you are reunited with your family and friends when your time here has passed. This book is just wonderful to read. Thank You so Much!

I have read this book no less than 5 times. It is an incredible story of strength and courage. Alicia tells of growing up during the Holocaust and her constant daily struggle for survival. At a very young age she is forced to deal with fear, starvation, pain, death...it goes on and on as she grows up 'on the run' from the Germans. It gives a different view point from other Holocaust books since she spent very little time in any concentration camp and instead travelled throughout several Countries trying to blend into the local community, hiding her Jewishness, trying to stay alive. This is definitely one of the best books I have ever read!

The Charge of the Light Brigade on the 25th October 1854 was one of the three famous engagements that formed the Battle of Balaklava. The Charge, the most famous of all military blunders, was barely over before the process of transforming it into myth began. Accusations, counter-accusations, legal actions and patriotic poetry created more obscuring smoke and dust than the infamous Russian guns. Cecil Woodham Smith traces the careers of two of the major players: Lords Lucan and Cardigan, the brothers-in-law from hell, whose vanity, arrogance and (at least in the case of Cardigan) incompetence, inexperience and crass stupidity, contributed to the fatal Charge. Almost 40 years of peace, and the reactionary influence of the Duke of Wellington, had left the British army in a parlous state of unreadiness and bureaucratic confusion when the call came to defend Turkey against the Russians. The choice of the aged, gentle, inexperienced and unassertive Raglan, as leader of the expeditionary army, only made a bad situation worse. (For a rather more sympathetic portrayal of Raglan, as victim of an inefficient military system, criminally disorganised commissariat and unreasonable government, see "The Destruction of Lord Raglan" by Christopher Hibbert.) A more recent study, "The Charge" by Mark Adkin, provides a detailed and well-illustrated account of the events leading to the Charge of the Light Brigade. Adkin challenges traditional views , including parts of Cecil Woodham Smith's account. Particular attention is given to the role played by Captain Nolan (the messenger). Adkin suggests that Nolan may have deliberately misled Lucan and Cardigan as to Raglan's real intention. Whatever the truth, which is of course unknowable, "The Reason Why" is a genuine classic and an excellent introduction to a fascinating subject.

Woodham-Smith presents, in minute detail, the wages of placing social rank over experience, and even competence. British military history follows a disturbing trend. War starts, Brits get trounced upon, influx of fresh talent and new ideas comes (along with, sometimes, timely intercession by allies), British return to triumph. Woodham-Smith attributes this pattern to the notion in the higher ranks of the army (a notion espoused by the Duke of Wellington himself, pip pip!), that nobility ensures, if not competence, at least loyalty.

The price of this notion, is, of course, massive death, but because the massive death does not happen to the nobility, nobody important really minds. This is one reason the Charge of the Light Brigade, with which _the Reason Why_ primarily deals, was so different, and worthy of eulogizing in prose and song (Alfred, Lord Tennyson, by the way, appears absolutely nowhere in this text)--those dying, those paying the price for the Army's obsession with aristocracy, were aristocrats themselves.

Woodham-Smith manages to trace the careers of two utterly unsympathetic characters--Cardigan and Lucan--in a fascinating manner. This is no small feat, considering the reader will probably want, by the end of _the Reason Why_ to reach back in time and shake both of them, and maybe smack them around a bit.

Again, Cecil Woodham-Smith proves herself a master of the historian's craft, and produces a well-researched, thorough and driving account of what is probably the stupidest incident in modern military history.

The Crimean War changed so much about how war is waged--the treatment of prisoners and wounded being tops on the list of reforms brought about in the wake of the debacle. _The Reason Why_ is an excellent account, and should be required reading for anybody with even a remote interest in military history, or European history in general.

The Reason Why remains the classic study of the intriguing and sadly ludicrous episode in military history known as the Charge of the Light Brigade. The author, coming from an Army family and relying heavily on the writings of officers, largely neglects the experience of the private soldier and concentrates on the main characters in the drama. The story is dominated by these extraordinary personalities, serving as a reminder that war is an inherently human drama. On a second level, it is a criticism of the privilege system of the British Army of the mid-nineteenth century. In retrospect, one is hard pressed to believe such a purchase system could have ever won a victory at Waterloo. Intolerant aristocrats with no experience in battle, paltry leadership skills, and maddening unconcern for the soldiers under their command, bought their commissions. The Charge of the Light Brigade illuminated all of the faults of the system and proved that bravery alone was insufficient for victory. While human blunders led to the debacle that was the Charge of the Light Brigade, the British military system was intrinsically to blame.

The heart of this book concerns the relationship between society at large and the military. Military leaders feared nothing so much as public scrutiny, for widespread discontent could lead to political interference and, indeed, political control of the army. Whether in dealing with the incorrigible personalities of Lords Lucan and Cardigan or in covering up the series of blunders that resulted in the sacrificial ride of the Light Brigade, the military leadership acted with the overriding principle of preserving the Army from governmental control.

The embarrassments of the Crimean campaign proved uncontainable. A great source of difficulty was the incompetence of the Army staff; rank and privilege were held to be superior to actual experience. When these difficulties led to humiliation and defeat, the commanders' concern was not with the men they had lost nor the future of the war effort; to the exclusion of these, their main concern was that bad publicity would appear in Britain, that the public would hear of the lack of success, that the House would begin to ask questions of the military leadership, that the press would begin to criticize the Army. This great fear of political interference was realized in the aftermath of the Crimean War. The author portrays this as the one positive effect engendered by the War effort. A new era of military reform was born in Britain, Europe, and America. Experience now became a prerequisite for command, and officers were trained in staff colleges. The author's final point is that, above all, the treatment of the private soldier changed as the military system was humanized to some degree. Her assertion that at the end of the Crimean War the private soldier was regarded as a hero seems rather bold, but it is clear that he was no longer seen as a nonhuman tool of his commanders' designs.

"The Sebastopol Sketches" comprises three pieces describing the experiences of Russian soldiers during the siege of Sebastopol in the Crimean War. Tolstoy served in the army at Sebastopol, and I got a feeling of authenticity in his writing.

Tolstoy's view of the war undergoes a change during the three sketches. In the first (and shortest) sketch, Tolstoy is patriotic, describing the soldiers, their cause and Russia as a whole in grand, heroic terms. By the end of the third sketch, the reader has been taken through the horrors of war, and Tolstoy is much more despairing, even disgusted at the whole sorry affair.

There are some constants, however: Tolstoy's descriptive writing is fine throughout - convincingly setting the scene against which the characters play out their parts. As the second and third sketches develop, Tolstoy becomes more interested in the human side of the war - that is to say, its impact upon the emotions and behaviour of individuals. These range through humour, excitement, stupidity, cupidity, heroism, cowardice and so on. When the reader gets to the story of Volodya Kozeltsov, the loss of innocence and idealism which war brings is exposed in full.

Fine, gripping stuff.

G Rodgers

The young Tolstoy took part in the defence of Sebastopol (1854-55) during the Crimean War, and these sketches (parts of which were written under fire) record his impressions of the drama and tumult of war. The first sketch, "Sebastopol in December" was published anonymously and attracted the attention of Tsar Alexander II and Turgenev. It is a short, emotionally patriotic piece recording the author's empathetic reaction to the bravery of the ordinary soldiers and sailors during the siege. "Sebastopol in May" is more ambitious and more ambiguous, recording the experiences of a group of Russian officers during an attack by the Allies on the 4th bastion of the defences, a position dreaded by everyone on the Russian side. There are no heroes in this piece, says Tolstoy, except "truth," as he depicts flawed human beings struggle to reconcile their petty vanities with the "higher" duties that have brought them to that terrible place. The final sketch, "Sebastopol in August," records the fall of Sebastopol through the eyes of the doomed Kozeltsov brothers and features some of the finest battle descriptions I have ever read. Tolstoy published it openly under his own name, and it seems to have helped him finally to choose literature rather than the army for his future career. "The Sebastopol Sketches" is a marvellous book not only for its own merits but also for the insight it gives us into a literary master trying out his wings for the first time.

In 1855, Tolstoy was a soldier in the Crimean War and a witness to many atrocities. One that would stay with him was the image of two children killed in a shelling. His experiences during the war made up the contents of his work The Sebastopol Sketches, many of which he drafted on the battlefield.

The book is divide in three short stories stem from Tolstoy's military experience during the Crimean War: "Sebastopol in December," "Sebastopol in May," and "Sebastopol in August 1855."

During this time, the young Tolstoy gave himself over to the decadent life that was common for men of his class, catching a venereal disease as well as drinking heavily and sustaining enormous gambling debts which included the loss of some of his prized property at Yasnaya.

I really enjoy reading this book,Tolstoy's reactions to the fighting at Sebastopol are really crude, if you are interesting in The Crimean War but from the Russian side you may find what you are looking for in this great book

This is an extremely fascinating and well-written book. It tells the story of not just the horrible massacre of Jews and other "undesireables" by the Nazis in WWII occupied Kyiv, but also of life in Kyiv under Nazi occupation. Equally fascinating is the account of Babyn Yar (its Ukrainian name) long AFTER the Germans had been pushed out. It is the personal, first-hand account of the author who is a 12-year old boy at the time of the German entrance into Kyiv. One correction to a previous review here - according to the editions I have seen of this book, the author is not Jewish, but half-Ukrainian and half-Russian. This is of minor importance other than for those who might be inclined to reject this book as "Jewish Propoganda". It is a very honest work, portraying everyone involved as all-too-human; sharing all characteristics from the noble to the obscence.

I have been looking for a copy of "Babi Yar" by Anatoly Kuznetsov for several years. I'm not sure this is the same book, but the fact that both books describe the occupation of Kiev during World War II from the eyes of a 12-year-old, including the horrible massacre of Jews and Ukrainians at Babi Yar, lead me to believe that this might be a rewrite of my copy of "Babi Yar" I have been unable to find in circulation. In my copy, printed by Dell in 1966, the protagonist is not Jewish, but Ukrainian-Russian, although many of his friends at the time were Jewish as were many of the survivors the author interviewed after the war whose stories were included in the documentary. Having lived in Kiev for five years in the early 90s, Babi Yar is not only a book of the atrocities that took place in Ukraine during the war, but a glimpse at the survival skills by ordinary Kievites during the occupation. In this way, it chronicles the plight of all citizens of Nazi occupation, not just those of the Jewish residents of this wonderful city. It also describes the way in which the Nazis rounded up young Ukrainians for shipment to farms and factories in Germany, which is the prelude to the stories of thousands of Ukrainians, many of whom returned home after the war and became Soviet citizens I met in Kiev fifty years later. But many of these young Ukrainains who found themselves in the West upon the German defeat immigrated all over the world, comprising the Ukrainian diaspora, who also returned to Kiev after independence to help build this new nation. If anyone knows whether these are the same stories or if the original has been rewritten and expanded, please post this information at this site. In any event, it is unfortunate that both copies of this book are out-of-print because the story of the citizens of Kiev and the atrocities of Babi Yar need to be told.

This is an important book which I hope will be put back in print soon. The story of the Ukrainian occupation during WWII, as well as Babi Yar death camp are fascinating, if also horrifying. The book covers a theatre of the war that is seldom covered in such detail.

The honesty is the most interesting part. The author, a 12-year-old boy at the time, (and NOT Jewish), had no reason to fabricate, and with an innocence that makes it clear he isn't trying to propogandize, just reports the horrors he sees. The book also includes some later gathered (when the author was grown up) interviews with survivors of Babi Yar death camp which are even more harrowing.

The most fascinating part of the copy that I have is that it BOLDs the portions of the book that were edited out by the Russian censors, before the book was published in the Soviet Union. It is interesting to notice what the censors chose to cut out, as much as what they chose to leave in!

Well worth finding in a used book store, if you can.

This is a tight and powerful novel. It is more or less unique in Russian literature in that it is the story of a "typical" (i.e. non-socialist) family affected by the Revolution and Civil War. Bulgakov grew up in Kiev and his love for the city comes through very strongly. When I read this book I knew very little about the historical events it describes but this didn't prove much of a problem in the long run.

I am also astounded that only three people reviewed this book. The novel centers on the Turbin family living in Kiev, Ukraine during the Civil War (1918 - 1921) that followed World War I and the Russian Revolution. After the Russian empire fell apart in 1917, the Ukraine declared an independent state in early 1918 led by a parliamentary leader called a Hetman. The Hetman Skoropadsky in The White Guard is the second such leader. Skoropadsky assumed power with German support and intervention. Having just lost World War I and being not all that interested in the Ukraine anyway, the Germans could not support Skoropadsky enough to quell the inevitable power struggle. In the Ukraine, there arose armies of Tsarists (led by Deniken, mentioned briefly in the book), Bolsheviks (who, of course, ultimately win but are not major players in the book), and Socialist nationalists led by Simon Petlyura. The Turbins enlist in a local guard unit supporting the Hetman against Petlyura's much larger army. It soon becomes clear that their loyalty to the Hetman is misplaced, but the Turbins' loyalty to each other, their city, their friends and neighbors, and their commanding officers is heart-warming. Besides "heart-warming" there are also running gun battles, sabre decapitations, machine gun ambushes, and enough action to please all but the most hard core testosterone addicts. Petlyura is regarded by many Ukrainians as a great general (no opinion from me), but many readers will enjoy despising Petlyura for the pogroms he instituted that killed 100,000 Ukrainian Jews. Petlyura is called a "dirty Yid" at a point in the book that might give insight into Bulgakov's view on these pogroms. This book is both a taut thriller and a beautiful story of loyalty and love. Brian says "Check it out" (Sorry, Joe Bob).

While we are, as Americans, familiar with the story of the Stalinist purges and know something of post-Revolutionary Russian history, the Russian Civil War between the White and the Red is not as well-known.

But this is the crux of the struggle that subsequently determined Russian history. Many authors tried to give a view of that turbulent period; Pasternak in "Doctor Zhivago", Solzhenitzen marginally in "Ivan Denisovitch" (Denisovitch was in a gulag because he was a returnee from the German front and thus viewed as a political traitor) and Ayn Rand "We the Living." Bulgakov's novel is one of the richest, most touching and well-written I have read on this historical time.

He takes the story from the personal standpoint of a single family affected by the German betrayal of Russia to the incomprehensible brutality of the Civil War. The use of "white" and "red" as symbols in describing everyday objects and landscape is novelistic, the action is pure stage drama as you'd find in a play or film.

This is a far better novel than "Doctor Zhivago", which dealt with essentially the same subject (families torn apart by the Civil War and their way of life forever altered.) If you are at all interested in Russian history, I can't recommend "The White Guard" enough to you. I just loved it.

The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster scared the world witless. We all worried what might happen to us. But what became of those who lived there? It would be a mistake to read Irene Zabytko's The Sky Unwashed as a documentary novel, because, despite its commonplace beginning, it tells its story with characters who come to matter to us for their own sakes, not for what they can tell us about Chernobyl. Even so, Zabytko, a Ukrainian-American born in Chicago, writes from experience as well as imagination, for she has relatives and friends in Chernobyl, has spent time with them there and has taken their stories into herself.

The novel opens with a too-journalistic narrative of a Ukrainian family's dispirited life, pre-disaster, in a village where people seem to be going through the motions of life in a dying culture. Weddings are not celebrated festively so much as mockingly, less cheer than jeer. For young people, working at the nearby Chernobyl plant offers a chance to escape from ancestral poverty. Older ones, even in the gentler Gorbachev times, take a different view. They've lived through Stalin's engineered Ukraine famine; war; oppression. "The old women in babushkas who kept the old ways alive with their icons and litanies ... knew that the hard times never end," the prologue says.

The Petrenko family represents both attitudes. Old Marusia lives with her weak, dull son, whose wife, Zosia, nurses a vital spark that leads her into unhappy affairs in search of vibrant life. We don't like Zosia much at first. Irritable, nasty, she appears selfish despite having two young children. But after Chernobyl blows, her overbearing ill-temper and sharp tongue come in handy when the radiation-poisoned family encounters sneering incompetence at a Kiev hospital. Zosia bribes and browbeats her way to medical treatment for her husband; of course, we fear for those who lack such survival skills.

Yet it's the aged Marusia, with her traditional, lumbering ways, who carries the novel into our hearts. She goes along with the evacuation because there's no choice. When in the ensuing chaos she finds herself alone, though, she realizes that home is the only place to go. Arriving there after a hard journey, "She sank to her knees on the ground, and she made the sign of the cross. She uttered a prayer of thanks to be back on the land where her mother and grandmother had lived."

How Marusia survives in a deserted, radioactive village where the water tastes "like coins" is harrowing and fascinating. It's the center of the novel, much as the primacy of home and religious faith is Marusia's center. Eyes itching and red, body aching strangely, she goes to her church to ring its deafening bells every day. She tills her garden, aids a dying cat. Loneliness tries to crush her spirit. A few other residents return, bringing relief from isolation but also moral dilemmas and the pain of an old wrong that Marusia is now expected to forgive. She leads some villagers to an effective (but not very convincing) showdown with Soviet officials over basic demands. (It should be noted that this is a strong-women novel -- the men all tend to be weak, stupid or dead. Is that necessary to show that women are strong?)

The author resists any temptation to lard her story with lectures on the evils of nuclear power. A lesser writer would have introduced a character whose job was to pontificate instructively on radiation dangers and communist inefficiency (a lethal combination, for sure). Instead, Zabytko concentrates on showing what happens to her characters and how they respond, in their human particularity, to the terrors they face. Incidents affect them, and move us, without any sense of piling-on or wallowing in pathos. There are even mica-glints of humor.

Mainly we're left with astonished pride at human endurance, coupled with anguish and anger at what the novel shows so unflinchingly without preaching: that by accepting dangerous technologies, we risk irreversibly poisoning not only our bodies but also our very ground of being -- land, home, family.

It's just an ordinary day in the village of Starylis on the outskirts of the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Ukraine, where widow Marusia Petrenko awakens in her tiny house to hear her son Yurko & his wife Zosia arguing. Soon she rises to take care of her grandchildren, her garden & her prize milk cow in the shed.

Yurko labors long hours at the nuclear plant & when he does not come home for days; when the priest does not turn up for services; when the storks do not return & the air takes on a bitter metallic taste, hard to breath, hard to see - it all happens so quickly.

A profoundly moving story about forces beyond control; of having to leave all you have ever known; of being taken to strange places & surviving under the careless wing of a remote government; of witnessing death by strange diseases & an anonymity that shrivels the soul.

Until the day Marusia decides to walk home to her beloved village. Here a new story begins in the deserted farmland & houses. When other intrepid babysi wander back, life takes on a semblance of normalcy until these gentle souls begin to die.

A memorable first effort, rich in humanity & so very lyrical! Do check out my site for my full review & eInterview with this author

"The Sky Unwashed" opens with the portrayal of life in a small Ukrainian village on the outskirts of Chernobyl. There is an obvious cultural divide between the old-timers who continue to till the communal land, and the younger generation who toil at the plant. However, none of them seem to fully comprehend the ticking time bomb which looms in the distance.

The horror of the Chernobyl accident, and the mishandling of the situation by the Soviet government, are disturbing. When one of the elder women of the town finds herself alone in Kiev after a governmental evacuation, she determines that she has no real alternative other than to return to the poisoned village, where others soon join her.

I couldn't put this book down. The characters are fascinating -- especially the tenacious old women who have seen so much hardship their whole lives. Their strength shines through, as they treat the radiation poisoning as just another hurdle in their lives which must be overcome.

Coincidentally, I finished reading "The Sky Unwashed" on the day that the Ukranian government finally agreed to close down the remaining reactor... Hopefully, the rest of the harm can be repaired.