I received this book from Harper Collins Publishers.

Two sisters, Natasha and Lisa Smirnova, are the best of friends. They share secrets and count on each other through good and bad times. They have no idea how much their bond will be tested as the German army occupies their town of Kiev in 1941. Their beloved Red Army has been defeated and the occupying Germans show absolutely no compassion for the Ukranian people.

The Germans begin their occupation by demanding all households surrender their food and radios. Jewish occupants are identified. The nice and luxurious apartments are taken by the Germans and each family must live with other people, often other Germans. The soldiers don’t respect the families they live with and often brutalize the younger women.

Young men are rounded up and imprisioned. The Jewish Ukranians are rounded up and told they are being relocated to German work camps. As Germany continues to exert their force, Lisa’s fiance is taken. Lisa begins to fear the Germans and does not leave home. Lisa and Natasha’s older brother is in the Red Army. They haven’t heard from him in a very long time. Their father has been imprisioned and their grandfather is too old to work. Natasha finds a job and works so that she can avoid being sent to work camp.

After a chance meeting with a Hungarian soldier, Lisa finds herself falling in love. The soldier is fighting, unwillingly, for German. How can she love the enemy? Is there any future for this new love or is it destined to lead her to heartache?

Lana Kortchik has written a touchingly beautiful love story set amidst the tragedies of Nazi German occupation. This is in no way a simple love story. The main characters are girls who find their entire lives changed. They rely upon their inner fortitude to survive and care for their family. The world that they find themselves living in is harsh, mean and ugly but somehow they adapt and overcome.

This is a very blunt look at the horrors inflicted upon the Ukraine. The brutality of the Nazis was felt every place that they conquered. Survival stories are as unique as the survivor. Lana Kortchik describes Kiev before and after war with vivid clarity. Her characters are wonderful, fragile and resilient.

My Rating: 🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

Additional Thoughts: Resilience. Humans are capable of a remarkable amount of resilience. We have horrible things happen to us and yet find the courage to pick ourselves back up and carry on.

This is Lana Kortchik’s first novel. She has a wonderful ability to describe people and situations clearly. Her novel is easy to read and meaningful. It will be wonderful to see what she chooses to write for her next novel.