Wow, this is a really amazing and touching book, which I absolutely loved!

The narrator of the book was fantastic, and she had a beautiful voice.

I loved the story of Julia, and although her life was heartbreaking, it was also inspirational, and she was so brave and strong. The book starts off in 1940, in Ukraine, and we are shown Julia as she travels to Germany, Italy, Australia and America.

This is actually based on a true story, and I found it fascinating, emotional, heart wrenching and heartwarming.

I recommend this book very highly, as it is really wonderful!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

The Child of Ukraine by Tetyana Denford Narrated by: Stephanie Cannon was an absolutely gripping and heart-wrenching historical novel based on a true story and one amazing audiobook. You will need tissues whilst reading or listening this audiobook as the narrator was excellent telling this story. Tetyana wrote from her heart when she started writing this book. It will be a book that will be with me a long time and I highly recommend it.

The Child of Ukraine by Tetyana Denford took my breathe away. Just beautifully written from start to finish.
The book cover was perfect and very strong.

Sadly my Netgalley app was not working for the last few weeks and by the time it was restored, the time had run out to finish listening this audio book so I am unable to offer a full review. The part I listened to was interesting and informative about a time and place in history of which I had little prior knowledge.

Publication date 20th July 2022.

This is the first book I have read by this author. 

I was originally drawn to this book by its eye catching cover and intriguing sounding synopsis and title. The synopsis stated that 'Based on the incredible true story of the author’s grandparents, The Child of Ukraine is a breathtakingly powerful tale of love, loss and family secrets, perfect for fans of The Four Winds, The Last Green Valley, and The Nightingale.' I am a huge fan of 'The Nightingale' so am looking forward to seeing if this lives up to this statement. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).

This novel consists of a prologue, 43 chapters and an epilogue. The chapters are short to medium in length so possible to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!

This book is based in Ukraine 🇺🇦, Germany 🇩🇪, Australia 🇦🇺 and New York, USA 🇺🇸. 

This book is written in third person perspective and the main protagonist is Julia. The benefits of third person perspective are that it let's you see the bigger picture of what's going on and you get to know more characters more, what they are thinking and what they are doing. It feels like you get to see the whole picture and not miss out in anything. 

'The Child Of Ukraine' discusses some topics that may upset some readers or may not be suitable for others. I like to point this out ahead of time in my reviews so you can judge if this book is for you or not. In this book Tatyana discusses/includes war and violence.

Well, what can I say but wow!!! This story is definitely not going to leave my head anytime soon. Firstly I must congratulate Tatyana  for an absolutely extraordinary novel that seriously needs to be made into a movie which I assure would be best selling!!! 

This book is extremely powerful and extremely well written. It is devastatingly heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. The vivid descriptions left me feeling like I was on a journey around the world with Julia and Henry. Tatyana's writing style is informative, personal, friendly, vivid and raw and I was thoroughly entranced throughout the novel. It is chilling, heart breaking and thought provoking. I will continue to think about Julia and her life story for some time to come. It's one of those books that you want to consume as quickly and as slowly as possible all at once and then when you come to the end you want to read it all over again. I read this book using a mix of media and I read approximately 50% on my kindle and then listened to the other 50% on audio book. I must say the narrator Stephanie Cannon did an absolutely fantastic job of bringing this beautiful story to life. Stephanie was spot on with the accents and did a fantastic job representing both male and female voices. I had to be careful where I was listening to or reading this story as it was so powerful that it could make me shout at the injustice of it all or cry at any point!! 

The storyline of this book is based on the true story of Tetyana's grandparents, although fictional Tetyana has done an absolutely excellent amount of research into her family which shines throughout the book. Nothing is left out she and brings Yulia and Hironimus Rudnyckyj story to life via Julia and Henry.  It is absolutely rammed with emotions that are filled with heartbreak, pain, love, confusion and hope on a roller-coaster ride. This book was previously titled 'Motherland'. 

It is a multi layered and evocative story of one woman and then a couple's and then a family's journey from WWll taking them through Germany, Italy, Australia and then New York from 1940 to 2011. It is quite hard to know what to say that won't give any spoilers away. I loved discovering "Julia" and "Henry's" stories and seeing them brought to life before my eyes. Julia and Henry are such amazingly strong people who I absolutely loved. I was completely invested in their stories and lives throughout and even after. I am looking forward to doing more of my own research on immigrant displacement and family stories of that time. I must admit that this was not something I have even thought to look into previously which I am quite ashamed to say as it happened and happens so much yet I know so little of it all. 

A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Tatyana for writing this beautiful story which does your grandparents so much justice and for bringing them to life again. They say that history repeats itself and the fact that these people are from Ukraine which is a country that is yet again under attack and whose people are suffering makes the story more poignant. It is also most definitely an eye opener to what those who not just previously but also present and even future have gone or go through throughout their lives when many of us just take lives for granted. 

Clear your schedules and grab your tissues as you will not be able to put this book down or stop the tears from streaming!!! 

Again congratulations Tatyana on an absolutely stunning emotional rollercoaster ride of a book!!

Overall a heart wrenching, devastating yet beautiful story of love, loss and hope that will keep you sucked into the pages throughout. 

Genres covered in this book include Historical European Fiction, Women's Historical Fiction, Historical Russian Fiction, Women's Literary Fiction, Historical Literary Fiction, Romance Literary Fiction, Historical Biographical Fiction and War Story amongst others. 

I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of 'The Four Winds' , 'The Last Green Valley' and 'The Nightingale'. 

 

414 pages.

This book is just 99p to purchase on kindle or free on kindle unlimited (at time of review) via Amazon which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!! 

Rated 5 /5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook. 

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The Child of Ukraine was for me an utterly compelling and at times a heart breaking read. I will be honest and say for the first few chapters i found it difficult to settle into this read, I thought it was lacking something. However after a few chapters I was completely captivated by this story and I was completely engrossed. This book is based on a true story which makes it all the more poignant. I listened to this on audio and it was an excellent listen and the audible narrator was fantastic.

I was enthralled… very much hooked listening to the narrator feeding me the story of Julia’s life. The author has penned a compelling saga of life’s struggles through war and beyond, and of strong personalities and courage. I would recommend a listen.

From 1940, Ukraine, to Germany to Australia and finally New York in the 1970s to the early 2000s, this story takes Julia and Henry through a life that is rife with problems many Ukrainians and other immigrants dealt with, but their secret is surprising. What will a mother do to save her children and family? No one knows until they find themselves in that position.

The Child of Ukraine was very different from what I was expecting based on the synopsis. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy this story, because I did. Julia was sent away by her parents in 1970 to save her after her brothers had been imprisoned and murdered. It was the last time she ever saw them. Unfortunately, what they had hoped for Julia did not happen. Captured and imprisoned in Germany, Julia did what she could to survive. She eventually met and fell in love with Henry and they were sent to Australia to work, where they would eventually have their own home. I was extremely impressed with Julia. Her strength, her love of family and her will to survive, had her making decisions that changed the course of life for more than just herself. Times were different for women then, but I still was very angry at Henry for what he put her through. Their move to the US was a new start for them and again, Julia showed her strength and adaptability. I found it very interesting to learn about their lives in Australia and how they made their comfortable life in the US. This is not an easy story to read, there is a lot of heartbreak. This book is based upon the life of the author's grandparents and it just shows us that we haven't learned from past mistakes, and mankind will continually be at war, as long as someone wants more power. The toll on the innocent is so sad. If you enjoy historical fiction based on normal, everyday people, and family sagas, then I recommend you pick up The Child of Ukraine. If you enjoy audiobooks, Stephanie Cannon does an excellent job narrating this story. Her accents were well done, and each voice has its own tone, expressions and personality. I definitely recommend this one on audio.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this audiobook with me! Awesome… What are you waiting for?! Snap this one up ASAP! Housework was not done, kids were not fed… Fantastic

Wow.

What an unbelievable story! I'm shook to the core by how gut wrenching this true story is. What an amazing tale of courage and survival.

Every step of the way I felt SO mad for Julia, rooting for her, kind of hating her husband for her, wonderingwhen her break in life would finally come. She had so much grace under pressure. There is something for everyone to learn from this amazing woman's story. I'm so glad Tetyana wrote this book to share with the world. This is definitely a history that needs to be retold.

I look forward to getting my hands on a physical copy of this when it's published!