Told through dual timelines, we follow the story of Katya in 1930s Ukraine and Cassie during the early 2000s in Wisconsin. Although their stories are more than half a century apart, both are women who survived tremendous grief and tragedy.

Set in 1930 Ukraine, Stalin and the OGPU are infiltrating the country igniting the genesis of the Holodomor-The Great Famine of Soviet Ukraine that lasted from 1932-1933 killing millions. Young Ukrainian Katya finds herself and her family at the center of this devastation simply surviving by having hope that tomorrow will be a better day. For many, tomorrow never comes as they succumb to the elements of the Holodomor or are murdered. A grief stricken Katya finds a will to survive despite the loss of nearly everyone, including her husband, sister, and baby boy. She leans on the two remaining family members she has left, her sister’s baby and her brother in law.

2004 Wisconsin and Cassie moves her daughter and herself in with her aging grandmother Bobby after the sudden death of her husband in a car accident. Despite their close relationship, Bobby has secrets. Bobby has dementia flashbacks to early life in Ukraine providing glimpses into her early life and setting Cassie out on a mission to uncover her past. New neighbor Nick proves to be helpful in piecing together Cassie’s family history as he translates Bobby’s old journal entries, written in Ukrainian.

A debut novel for this author, I’d recommend this book to all Historical Fiction lovers, particularly Kristin Hannah fans. I loved the dual timelines and how intricately intertwined the two stories were. Although the novel invoked feelings of desperation and sadness, especially given the present day war between Ukraine and Russia, there was always hope.

After all, some people survive simply by having faith that tomorrow will be better. And for the lucky few, they find love in a hopeless place…

The Memory Keeper of Kyiv is an impressive debut novel from Erin Litteken. This book tells the story of Holodomor that took place in the 1930’s when Stalin’s Soviet Union took over farmland in Ukraine by force while killing and starving the local peasants who were opposed to the Soviet plan.
The strength and resilience of the Ukrainian people over the years, not just in the recent conflicts but all the way back in the 1930’s is truly indescribable.
This book was well written and an amazing, emotional read. It is the type of book that will stay with you for a very long time. The storyline and characters were well thought out and illustrated beautifully throughout.
This was a great debut from Erin Litteken and I hope she continues to write more in the near future.
If you enjoyed The Tattooist of Auschwitz or The Beekeeper of Aleppo, I think you would enjoy this as well.

As the author clearly states, “as you know, history repeats itself.” I’m embarassed to admit how little I knew about the history of Ukraine. Erin Litteken does a beautiful job of both sharing the country’s heart-wrenching history, and a beautiful story about love, family, and the will to survive. Personally, I am not always a fan of dual timelines. I find they can be confusing, and interrupt the flow of a story. That being said…it works well in this book! Thank you NetGalley for sharing this! I highly recommend you read this one!

CONTENT WARNING: grief, blood, death, violence, death of a child, mention of rape (off-page), starvation, suicide

Last month, I had checked out some nonfiction books pertaining to Ukraine. And this book tells the story of the Holodomor, a man-made famine that was intended to decimate Ukraine. And while this is historical fiction, the author drew on her own family history to write this book. I appreciate that the author and publisher are donating a portion of the proceeds from this book to humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, since the book happened to come out around the time of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It echoes the past, and the Holodomor is an under recognized historical event.

The story is broken into two different parts — one tells the story of Katya, a young woman in Ukraine in the early 1930s, and the other follows Cassie, a young woman of Ukrainian descent in the early 2000s. I found myself more eager to read Katya’s story, finding out what happened to her and the family, although I knew that it wasn’t going to be a happy story. Cassie is a young widow, coping with the traumatic death of her husband and near-loss of her daughter Birdie, who no longer speaks. After more than a year of her grieving, she is asked to move in with her grandmother, who is having some issues living alone.

Both of the women have sad stories, but I found that I connected more deeply with Katya’s character. She has a happy family, a blossoming romance with the boy next door, and takes joy in her work farming. But once the Soviets decide to force a policy of collectivization on the farmers in Ukraine, things start to change. Proud and independent farmers are slowly forced to give up their land and work as collective farmers. But collectivization wasn’t the only goal—Stalin had plans in motion to create a famine and kill off the Ukrainian people.

As we get deeper into Katya’s story, we see how the secret police and activists break these people down. Deportations, executions, terror, and starvation all broke these people down, and Katya is no exception. She was incredibly tough and smart, and her story broke my heart. However, running alongside is Cassie’s story, as she adjusts to living in a different state with her aging grandmother, who is struggling with memory loss and has resorted to old habits that are relatively strange. In addition, she finds notes and a journal written in Ukrainian, which she can’t read, so she winds up relying on an attractive neighbor to assist her. It felt strange to read about Cassie’s budding feelings for this man, while thinking of Katya’s heartbreaking story.

By the end, I was sobbing. The way that these two stories wove themselves together was beautiful and poignant, and humanizes a massive tragedy that isn’t commonly acknowledged. While the Ukrainian people recall the Holodomor, this event has little to no recognition around the world, and is noticeably denied by Russia to this day. It’s an important story, and incorporated beautiful depictions of Ukrainian culture and customs. This is a story that will stay with me for a long time, and while it isn’t necessarily easy to read, it tells an important story.

This book tells the story of the Holodomor, a man-made famine that was intended to decimate Ukraine. I admit like a lot of people I have never read of this event before and it shows how well it has been suppressed as well as denied by Russia. The author draws on her own families history in bringing this piece of historical fiction to life, this book is told in two narratives, Katya’s, a young woman in the early 30s and that of Cassie, a young woman of Ukrainian descent in the early 00s. I was more interested in Katya’s story, but I think that’s only natural as I knew less about the past, both stories are sad, even more so with the current crisis. Both these stories are heartbreaking and will have you in tears .but Litteken manages to humanize a tragedy that isn’t really known much outside of Ukraine or acknowledged. This is an important story, more so now with what’s happening and an important story that has to be told.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

This is such an emotional book,
I find it so hard to believe the strength and resilience of the Ukrainian people over the years, not just in the recent conflicts but way back in the 1930s ( of which I had no idea about) .
I absolutely loved everything about this book, and it seems so poignant at this time as well, but the unbelievable strength of the characters, especially Katya, was uplifting.
This is one of these special books that will stay with you for a long time.
I really do hope Erin Litteken will write more books as this one was so well written and truly an amazing emotional read.
Thank you netgalley.

The Memory Keeper of Kyiv is an impressive debut novel by Erin Litteken. Litteken is the granddaughter of a Ukrainian refugee and the seeds of this story had been planted in her mind long before the recent attacks on Ukraine by Russia. This book tells the story of Holodomor, Ukrainian for ’death by hunger’, that took place in Ukraine in the early 1930’s when Stalin’s Russia took over Ukrainian farmland by force, forcing the people to join the collective and deporting, killing and starving the local peasants who were opposed to the state’s plans. We follow Katya, Alina, Pavlo, Kolya and their friends and family through those horrendous years that killed millions of people and all the heartbreak and terror is palpable throughout the story.

In the beginning of the novel Katya is a 16-year-old girl, full of dreams for the future, as she attends a wedding in their village. Little does anyone know that in a short period of time everything is about to change and the story taking place in Ukraine was told with such force and honesty – but also tenderness – that I am glad that the point of view alternated between the Ukraine of the 1930’s and present day Illinois. Otherwise the book would have been too much to bare - my heart broke and I cried several times while wanting to continue the story and find out how it all ended.

The present day story centers around Cassie, a widow with a five-year-old daughter, who is trying to put her life back together after her husband’s death in a car accident. Cassie moves to live with her grandma - Bobby, Cassie’s grandma, has been leaving notes written in Ukrainian around her house and she keeps talking to people who are not there. Bobby has never talked about her past but now she might be ready to tell her story to Cassie.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher, Boldwood Books, for giving me the chance to read this heartbreaking and moving novel of love, loss and resilience. And how wonderful that Boldwood Books has decided to donate a share of the proceeds of this book to DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal to help the people of Ukraine today.

This is a book I think everyone should read.

I give this book four stars and will post reviews on Goodreads and Instagram today, on April 26, 2022, and on Amazon after the publication of the novel.

A more timely novel than this exists nowhere. It is truly heartbreaking to think that the Ukrainian people have been through so much that this book could resonate through time and generations.

I’m ashamed to admit I had never heard of the Holodomor before this book. It’s such an important piece of history that we were never taught. I can’t believe it’s been covered up for so many years; these people deserve to have their stories listened to.

It goes without saying to mention there are some difficult themes in this book, death, baby loss, grief, famine, starvation, torture, suicide, murder, but it’s handled with such great care and sensitivity and isn’t overtly graphic. You can see how much this story means to the author.

Regardless of its difficult themes, or perhaps because of, it is so full of love and family and friendship and a sense of belonging to a place and a people.

Every now and again you come across a book that transcends the frivolity that is fiction reading, and for me, this is that book.

Told in dual timeline format, The Memory Keeper of Kyiv is a timely, harrowing, heart crushing and achingly beautiful story about deep sorrow, family, love, effects of humankind's brutality, resilience and hope. Just before WWII the Soviets under Stalin meted out horror upon horror on those living in Eastern Ukraine. Those who disagreed with Stalin's plan were branded kulaks and were treated abysmally and inhumanely as enemies of the state. Young Katya, her beloved and her family suffered terribly during the Holodmor, death by planned famine. Seventy years later Cassie is suffering from deep loss of her own and discovers the journal of her grandmother. As Cassie and her young daughter grow and rebuild together they learn about their ancestry and family loyalty.

Katya experiences desperate grain shortages, home raids, religious bans, searching for sustenance for her family and deportations are sadly commonplace in this part of Ukraine. Her family is ripped apart in so many ways. Omnipresent death hangs in the air like a thick blanket; survival is often impossible. Her story made me feel ill at times thinking of the anguish and despair of such prolonged atrocities, yet stories like this must be told and known. The stories of Katya and Cassie are beautifully connected by the author's gorgeous writing and contain care and passion in every breath.

If you are a Historical Fiction reader (or not!), do not pass this up...it is too powerful to miss. Do be sure to read the author's notes on her own family's history in Ukraine during this brutal time. Absolutely gut wrenching. I cannot fathom the depth of emotions she and her relatives must have felt learning, telling and reliving the stories. This is no ordinary book. And I am so very glad to have read it.

My sincere thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the honour of reading this stunning and important book based on the author's family history.

I couldn’t think of a more appropriate read for right now. This is a dual timeline story that occurs In Ukraine and covers the events that happened surround Stalin. This is an emotional read and will break your heart but it is written so so well. I highly recommend everyone reads this. It may be fiction but boy did I learn a lot

When I received an email asking if I would like to read and review this book, I hesitated. At a time when I spend a good part of my day watching the news about the war in Ukraine and the horrors that Ukrainians are suffering, could I read a book about a time 90 years ago, when Ukraine was suffering at the hands of Russia? But I did read it, because for one thing, it’s important to read accounts, even fictional ones, about a time in history that we should not forget—to pay homage to those who suffered and grieved and died, and to look for a glimmer of hope in the most horrid of circumstances.
This was a hard read, sad and horrifying, the worst kind of loss and pain imaginable. It is also an amazing story of survival and resilience, of bravery and sacrifice, and indeed, hope and love. The characters felt real, they were incredibly complex characters whose pain I felt deeply, holding out hope that somehow, they could find some shred of peace and happiness. The stories of the holodomor have been hidden in our history, and even in the shame and loss of its survivors. This is a book that people should read, if for no other reason than to make sure we never forget, that we don’t fail these millions of souls—those who perished, and those who survived.

Unfortunately I couldn't get into this one. Characters were quite one dimensional for me. Sois more a case it's not you it's me with thia book.

The Memory keeper of Kyiv by Erin Litteken is a powerful, emotional story regarding what happened during ‘Holodomor’ in Ukraine in the 1930’s. The Great Famine that it was commonly known, was said a man-made famine that was espoused the greatness of collective farming by Stalin activists marching from the Soviet Union. The story is based on the what the Grandparents of the author experienced and the horrors that they inflicted on the Ukrainian people.
I am sorry to say that I have never heard of what happened during ‘Holodomor’ and I found this a sensitively written account of what went on in them times. I cannot imagine what the minds of the Ukraine people are now thinking this present day of what is happening to them.
The story starts with 16-year-old Katya and her loving family her life and her bravery during these horrific times. Living day to day finding food and protecting her family.
Seventy years on, Cassie finds a Ukrainian journal of her grandmothers that was left hidden telling the horrors that when on during the great famine. And her grandmother reliving some of the times. As Cassie does read Ukrainian, she gets her friend Nick to decipher the journal to find out what happened and find out what happened to the rest of her family.
Although this is a difficult subject to read, I found it to be detailed account of what happened in them times. The resilience and bravery and hope of the Ukrainian people. This is also a brilliant debut novel from this author and will be interested to see that she next writes. 5 stars from me.

"Everyone wants Ukraine's fertile soil for their own and nobody wants the Ukrainians rule it"

I'm not ashamed to say this book wrung me out and left me to dry. Just as we're hearing about the atrocities Putin is imposing on the Ukrainian people this book details Holodomor, Stalin's collectivization ruling and basically man-made genocide and famine, just because the culture and nationalism of the Ukrainian people didn't suit the Soviet ideology
The book is a dual timeline novel, centered on Katya's story in Ukraine in the late 1920's and early 30's when Holodomor took place in Eastern Ukraine and Cassies story in America in 2004. Cassie goes to live with her ailing grandmother Bobby and finds a journal. With the aid of a neighbour they translate it from Ukrainian and read of the atrocities suffered.
I didn't know what to expect from the novel as I'd never heard of Holodomor but I found it an intense read and part of history that should be heard about.
The authors notes at the end tell a heartbreaking tale of impact this had on the country and their people.
If you only read one historical fiction book this year, make it this one. Hard to believe it's a debut novel as well.

This book broke my heart in a thousand pieces. It was so well written and so beautiful and so sad – I read it in on

I’m ashamed to admit that I had no clue the Holodomor ever happened. I knew atrocities were committed under Stalin but I had no clue to total brutality of it. This was a bit of a history lesson for me and boy, was it hard to read. The choices people had to make and just the total definition of survival was so painful to read.

My dad lived through WW2 while in Italy under Mussolini. I’ve been learning more and more about his life prior to coming here and my grandmother’s numerous requests to join her husband here in the states. My grandfather had come here, became a citizen and was working to send money home to my grandmother and dad when war broke out. So part of me was thinking about that knowing the author took from her own family history to build the story. Somehow, we are all a part of our family history and I loved how well this was honored in this story.

Told in two timelines, we read Cassie’s and Bobby’s story simultaneously. Cassie is recovering from a sudden loss and is one year into her grief journey. Bobby never really left her grief behind but carried with her in the form of a journal she asks Cassie to read. The journal tells of Bobby’s life in Ukraine and surviving the Holodomor.

Out of the two stories, I loved Katya’s more. It was gripped and so full of pain and choices and unexpected emotions, I couldn’t stop reading it. Literally – like it kept me up past 2am. Cassie’s story was painful also, especially since the anniversary of my mom’s unexpected death is next week, but her story and how it ended up was slightly predictable. Having said that, I’m so glad she got the ending she got. It was still very satisfying.

For the beauty of this story, the history behind it and all the emotions this book puts you through, I highly recommend it! So very well done!

4.5 stars
I highly recommend this dual-timeline novel! I enjoy being educated as well as entertained when I read a book, and this one certainly fit that bill.

I've read many books of this era, but I don't recall ever reading, or learning, about the Holodomor, a brutal assault by Stalin's Russia, which occurred in Ukraine prior to WWII.

LItteken's book is about a time in our history that should never be forgotten. And it's so sad to see that some of the accounts in this book are being played out in Ukraine present day, and the reader can't help but wonder if history is repeating itself. This is not an easy book to read, as it's very emotional. Yet it was wonderful to see the resilience, bravery, and sacrifices made by the realistic characters, and there are themes of hope and love woven throughout. This is one book that will stick with me long after turning that final page.

This book has a dual storyline told in 1929 and in 2004.
I found this story difficult to read because of recent events.
A story about family and resilience.
Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Emotionally riveting and honest, The Memory Keeper of Kyiv is both timely and timeless—a brave and important book that simultaneously shines an unflinching light on historical atrocities while it celebrates the resilience of the human spirit. Litteken seamlessly intertwines the past with the present as she follows a Ukrainian family’s heart-wrenching journey through genocidal famine and grievous loss while elevating their bravery, strength, and selfless love. You won’t soon forget this stunning debut.

Holodomor—death by hunger—was a brutal and devastating assault against Ukraine by Stalin’s Russia in the decade prior to WWII. When I received an email asking if I would like to read and review this book, I hesitated. At a time when I spend a good part of my day watching the news about the war in Ukraine and the horrors that Ukrainians are suffering, could I read a book about a time 90 years ago, when Ukraine was suffering at the hands of Russia? But I did read it, because for one thing, it’s important to read accounts, even fictional ones, about a time in history that we should not forget—to pay homage to those who suffered and grieved and died, and to look for a glimmer of hope in the most horrid of circumstances.
This was a hard read, sad and horrifying, the worst kind of loss and pain imaginable. It is also an amazing story of survival and resilience, of bravery and sacrifice, and indeed, hope and love. The characters felt real, they were incredibly complex characters whose pain I felt deeply, holding out hope that somehow, they could find some shred of peace and happiness. The stories of the holodomor have been hidden in our history, and even in the shame and loss of its survivors. This is a book that people should read, if for no other reason than to make sure we never forget, that we don’t fail these millions of souls—those who perished, and those who survived.

Thank you NetGalley, Erin Litteken and Boldwood Books. This is my personal review.
To read this book right now was like reading the news of what is happening in the world today. It hurt to read but was also an excellent way for me to fully understand what is happening and why.
This book completely tore me apart as I was reading it. The author did an amazing job of bringing history to life for me.
History written as a fiction story with real history used to bring the story to life is something everyone needs to read.