Member Review

I loved The Memory Keeper of Kyiv when I read it last year, so when I saw that Litteken is releasing a new book, I just knew I had to read it. Honestly, The Lost Daughters of Ukraine is one of the most heart-wrenching yet very moving, powerful and beautifully written book.

The story follows the lives of three women, Vika, Lilya and Halya. All three of them are trying to do their best to survive WW2 and their lives are all intertwined during the most tragic moments of the war. All three women and their stories were filled with love, resilience, compassion, and strength, even though their everyday life during the war was filled with hunger, death, loss, cruelty and terror from both the Soviets and Nazis.

The writing of this book was just superb, especially the way each chapter portrayed a different POV and made the story so rich and full. At times, it is very hard to read as Litteken doesn’t shy away from displaying these three women's hardships and tragic realities. Although heart-wrenching to read, this book has quite a few beautiful moments when the generosity of people and selflessness are shown too. The author also shows how important those little acts of resistance are and people from different countries and backgrounds support each other in the face of evil. Every character in this book was so well written that I felt like I wasn’t reading a fiction book but a true-life account.

Overall: Brilliant book! Amazing writing! Such an eye-opener and very emotional. It displays the atrocities of Nazis and Soviets during WW2 yet shows how strong Ukrainians were and always will be. Can’t wait to see what Litteken writes next, but I am sure it will be as brilliant as her last two books.