Maybe I Need A Memory Keeper …

First.. a confession. This weekend we celebrated my daughter turning 21. I cannot party like a 21 year old, and feel like I am still recovering. Is adult life just living in a state of constant tiredness? Monday was the dreaded teachers’ only day. Don’t get me wrong – I love and support teachers to bits. As a parent.. this was the world’s longest school holidays. Mr Matilda and I did the juggle with us reviewing our schedules and working out when we could each work. ANZAC day was some family time mixed with more work and book things for Matilda’s Room. And then today – Wednesday – book review day. I was up at 5:45 am and travelling to Auckland for work. I made it back home by 6pm. Long story short – I am whacked!

I said to Mr Matilda, do you think anyone will notice if I don’t write a review? I don’t think anyone would.. but I have a second wind. This week you just get the one book BUT it is awesome. One I wholeheartedly recommend to you.

This week we take a look at a five-star read (4.49 on Good Reads) which I devoured in January 2023 – The Memory Keeper of Kyiv by Erin Litteken. This is historic fiction which tells the story of Katya, a young Ukrainian girl who lives through Stalin's brutal famine in the 1930s, and her granddaughter, who discovers her secrets decades later. I didn’t know much about this manmade famine before reading this book. This came about as a result of a push toward collective farming. To this day, the Russian government denies that this even happened. Due to this cover up, the number of deaths caused is still unknown but it is estimated to be almost 4 million lives lost.

In this book, Katya’s family are against the new farming regime. Stalin’s activists arrive in her village, and start putting pressure on people to join the collective. Soon, neighbours start to disappear. Those who speak out are never seen again. The pressure to join becomes greater and greater as the food supply dwindles.

The story goes back and forward through time, as a young widow discovers her grandmothers journals from this period of time. Litteken does an amazing job of portraying the horrors of the Holodomor, as well as the resilience and courage of the Ukrainian people. The book also has themes of hope which spans generations and shows how love can heal even the deepest wounds. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction and wants to learn more about a forgotten chapter of history. This book was published in 2022 which just so happened to coincide with the war in the Ukraine.

This is the perfect book for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Lilac Girls, and the Beekeeper of Aleppo. Definitely add this book to your TBR because life is too short to read bad books.

P.S If you have been following my rants for awhile, just wanted to let you know that I didn’t do my steps today.