WW2, torture, prison, grief, grieving, grisly, invasion, politics, Soviets, Ukraine, historical-figures, historical-novel, historical-places-events, historical-research, history-and-culture, multiple-murder, multigenerational, Germans, terror, real-horror, family*****

It was a different kind of war. First there was the horror of Stalin's invasion and murders. Then came the Germans under Hitler. All were face to face dishonor, torture, and murder. But the personal sufferings and displacement of the people of Ukraine are the same as in 2022-23. This is a tribute to their suffering and bravery as well as being a fictionalized account of the author's own family.
I requested and received an EARC from Boldwood Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

Another heartbreaking emotional moving story a look at the Ukraine during ww11.The story is painful to read at times the characters their struggles the bloodshed had me in tears.The brave women their lives even finding romance drew me in to their lives their story.Historical fiction at its best

In Erin Litteken’s newest novel, The Lost Daughters of Ukraine, we are introduced to Halya, Liliya, and Vika- three females living in German and Soviet occupied Ukraine during WWII. Halya is a younger girl being raised by her dad and stepmother, while wondering why her birth mother would leave her. Vika is Liliya’s aunt, trying to raise and keep safe her three children while putting on a brave face for her family to hide how terrified she is. Liliya has lost her parents and brother to the war and finds herself questioning “Why me?” when she survives various events while others she knows are killed.

Liliya and Halya’s lives intersect in a train bound for Germany as they are taken as German labor. There, Liliya’s cousin, Slavko, convinces Liliya that they should treat Halya as family. Liliya, afraid to become attached to anyone because those close to her die, is hesitant, but Halya reminds them both of Slavko’s younger sister, so she relents. Meanwhile, Vika tries to hold her family and sanity together when her husband decides for their own safety and survival that they should leave their home and head to get Liliya and Slavko back from the labor camp they were taken to. Litteken eaves together a beautiful tribute to what her family experienced during the war. Well researched. Well written. You hope against hope that they will be reunited as the story flows. Make sure to read the author’s notes after the story ends. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the advanced copy. Opinions expressed are my own. This book is set for publication on April 23, 2023.

#netgalley #arc #bookstagram #erinlitteken #thelostdaughtersofukraine #boldwoodbooks

The lost Daughters of Ukraine is second book from the author I have read. Her previous novel ‘The Memory Keeper of Kyiv’ is an amazing retelling of the horrors at Holodomor. So, I was intrigued to see what this book was all about.
This is a powerful story is based on the authors family history about three women from different walks of life and the tragedies and the horrors they endured and the determination to get through the war and be re united with their families.
This is greatly researched, and the author is an avid storyteller. The author tells the story as it is and not frightened to show what really happened in them times. It is eye opening and emotional account and I recommend to anyone who wants to find out more about not Ukraine. I really enjoyed this second book from the author. I highly recommend. 5 stars from me.

A multi-layered saga woven with history and heart. Litteken captivates with her cast of extraordinary, resilient characters. The Lost Daughters of Ukraine is an unforgettable gem of historical fiction. While the plot of this novel is riveting, it’s the characters that drive the story, which is something I love about Erin Litteken’s writing. Halya, Vika, and Liliya are all equally strong characters, realistically written, and their perspectives twine together seamlessly. I also love that the author included some of her own family history in this novel. It added so much depth and emotion to the narrative. While Litteken doesn’t shy away from showing the horrors of war, there is always a thread of hope and inspiration present, even in the darkest moments. A fantastic, well-researched novel centering the Ukrainian experience during WWII. Highly recommend! Thanks to the author and publisher for the Advance Review Copy of this book.

The more books on World War Two that I read, the more I realize that I know nothing. High school and university classes glossed over the horrors. I can't remember one lesson detailing the suffering of the people of Ukraine. I might as well toss my AA in History in the trash. It no longer means anything. It is obvious after reading this story that I was taught very little detail. We need to be taught the details. We need to be taught the horrors. We can't let it happen again. I can't thank Erin Litteken enough for opening my eyes. You have encouraged me to learn more and remember.

My heart is breaking for those that suffered and struggled to survive in World War Two. I must admit that when I have thought of the war in the past I thought of France, Italy, Poland and England. There were so many more countries involved.

The Lost Daughters of Ukraine gives quite a detailed description of what it must have been like for those in Ukraine. I got a bird's eye view of the lives of children taken from their families and taken to forced labor camps. The atrocities that these innocents suffered have left me shocked. I was left speechless by their desire to survive, to gain freedom.

The children left parents behind when they were tossed onto the trucks and driven away. This book tells of the struggles of the parents left wondering where their child was and if the child was still alive. I honestly never thought about the turmoil the parents went through when they had to flee. How would their children know where they went? How would the parents survive the elements and lack of food and shelter.

The author didn't just give me knowledge about the people during the war. I had never realized how complicated it was for the workers in the Displacement Camps. They had to try and keep track of those that arrived and family members they were looking for. They were tasked with feeding more and more people every day. They gave them shelter. They gave them medical care. The strength that these works must have had while dealing with the survivors of the war must have awe inspiring.

The Lost Daughters of Ukraine deserves the reader's full attention. It is not a book to just gloss over or read with distractions. I honored those of Ukraine by giving the book my full attention. The tears fell. My stomach churned. The sadness grew and grew. Now feel an all encompassing sorrow for what was done to so many because some people thought they were better than others.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for my copy of The Lost Daughters of Ukraine by Erin Litteken in exchange for an honest review. It publishes April 24, 2023.
I read The Memory Keeper of Kyiv last year, and I truly enjoyed and learned so much, that I knew I had to read this book as soon as I saw it was coming out! First off, I have to say, Litteken is a talented writer, and very well-researched. I feel like in the sea of WWII fiction, this book stands out. I so appreciated the Ukrainian perspective, and the battle of Germany and Russia for the land. I feel like I rarely see a book that represents Ukraine in WWII or really any eastern European countries. So I felt like I learned a lot!
Secondly, I loved the way this book was structured between three characters: Adult, Teen, and Child, to show how war affected three different perspectives. I found that to enrich the reading experience. I also really appreciated how the chapters weren't too long, and that there didn't need to be gratuitous violence described.

The Lost Daughters of Ukraine is evocative, impactful, powerful and will grip and wring out your heart until you're out of breath. Author Erin Litteken writes human sorrow and grief with such tender poignancy and insight I practically felt her tears on the pages.

World War II in Europe is agonizing in every way imaginable. Treatment of citizens by Stalin's Soviets is so horrendous that the barbaric Nazis are initially welcomed by some to Ukraine. Stalin has ordered a scorched earth policy and life means death for millions, quickly with a shot or slowly by torture and starvation. People quickly learn the Nazis are as bad if not worse and merely surviving one consumes them.

The story is told from three points of view. As a mother Vika would give her life for her children. She loves her husband but thirsts for affection from him. The author's way of writing her needs is achingly beautiful, impossible to describe. My heart broke for Vika, especially when faced with impossibly cruel choices.

Liliya is 17 but has survived more grief than most. Her escape is drawing birds. She has lost everything yet she carries a tiny spark of life which grows and ignites courage in others. She comes to rely on love of a man and friends which keep her putting one step in front of the other. She risks her life to save others.

Halya is twelve and experiences terror after terror, too. The sudden rounding up of Nazis kills her inside. Family is everything but what if she has no family? What she endures is incomprehensible and so is her precious courage.

Historical Fiction readers, get swept away in the story, utterly and completely. War details are not easy reading but you will surely be richly rewarded, especially after you consider the author's personal ancestral background. For me it was an all-sensory book, so very real.

My sincere thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this phenomenal book.

Devastating. Uplifting. Tragic. Hope. Cruelty. Tenderness. Evil. Love. Inhumane. Human. All these words fit. It's man's inhumanity to man while, somehow, still radiating that where there is life there is hope.

In other words, this one is an emotional roller coaster. Having read Litteken's first book based on family memories, I opted to read straight through. No notes but frequent breaks when the story became almost too much to bear.. Quite frankly, even if I'd taken extensive notes I couldn't come close to capturing this story in the relatively few words of a review. It's a story that needs to be told, however, and Litteken does a wonderful job of, while not omitting the horrors, conveying the resilience and hope that shines from her three main characters.

In some ways I felt most akin to artistic Liliya, but all faced the horrors of war in their own unique ways. The words that were left ringing in my mind came early, to be brave and keep fighting because, yes, where there is life there is hope. That inner strength goes a long way toward explaining the need the Ukrainians have to keep fighting against invaders.

Read this book.

Thank you #NetGalley and #BoldwoodBooks for reminding me that even when hope seems slim, it is always there.

Absolutely devastating. Violence, torture and bloodshed shown to be for nothing. A human tale of loss and upset and a look at the daily pains, life and tiny joys that made up life in the 1940s. Romance managed to survive, and the beauty of love and hope makes this a must read description of reality in Ukraine amongst those that did their best to live through the violence.

Stop! If you haven’t read Erin Littekens first novel The Memory Keeper of Kyiv start there! I’m sure you could read them as stand alone novels but I think you will appreciate the tidbits of the past more if you read the other book first! Both are so good!

I am again blown away by Erin’s work as I read through the Lost Daughters of Ukraine. She continues to shed light on the unique experiences Ukrainian people had to suffer through moving us into WW2 with her second novel. Erin’s writing has you hooked right from the early chapters, there is no unnecessary filler which is great. I loved all of the characters and at first worried how having three perspectives would go but it meshed well without being confusing. She has earned a spot in my favourite authors list and I look forward to reading future works of hers.

Massive thanks to Erin, Boldwood Books and Netgalley for the eARC

A action packed and heartwarming story of a family ripped apart by the Nazis and lucky enough to find each other. My only problem with this book is that it takes too long to get to the point in the story where the real hardship takes place, a lot of the story is the build up to the three young people being taken by the Nazis for slave labor and the losses they endure so the second half of the book feels rushed to finish.

Another amazing book by Erin Litteken! Definitely worth reading for those interested in the history of Ukraine and how history looks like it is repeating itself now. I loved The Memory Keeper of Kyiv so much that I recommend it whenever I can, and now The Lost Daughters of Ukraine will be joining it in my common recommendations.
It will have you laughing, crying and smiling throughout as you follow the 3 intertwined storylines through the events of the Second World War in Ukraine.

This story was so special. It was hard to read given the topic but was so eye opening to what people from Ukraine have gone through and are probably going through in todays war. I loved the three different journeys and stories. It provided different perspectives at different points throughout the war.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

I loved reading The Memory keeper of Kyiv, and was really looking forward to reading this book.

I feel this book is, maybe better than the previous one, it kept me hooked.

It covers what happened in Ukrainian during WWII.

I absolutely recommend this one book.

Whatever your expectations, this book will surpass them. No matter how many books you may have read about World War II as it raged in Ukraine, Poland, and Germany, this one will enrich you. You will experience despair, rage, pain, fear, and joy, though not in equal measures and you will need a box of Kleenex at your side.

How can anyone witness such brutal atrocities enacted on the innocent and retain a fragment of humanity? How does one recover their own soul after being the recipient of abject cruelty? The author is living proof that it's possible because she drew from her own family's experiences in Ukraine. This book is a testament to their will not only to survive but to thrive. It was a privilege to view World War II through the eyes of Vika, Liliyana, and Halya. I couldn't look away no matter how much I wanted to.

Many thanks to NetGalley & Boldwood Books for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I loved and learned so much from reading The Memory keeper of Kyiv, so when I saw there was another book by Erin I had to read it.
This book was also amazing, captivating, and informative. It is the first historical fiction novel I have read that covers what Ukrainian’s experienced during WWII. I definitely recommend this one!
I also absolutely adored Liliya and Philip as characters as well!
Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood books for the opportunity to read this book in advance!

Inspired by the author’s family history, this book follows the lives of three women of Ukraine during World War II: Vika, Lilya, and Halya, along with a number of supporting characters. It is an excellent companion piece to Litteken’s The Memory Keeper of Kyiv which was about the Holodomor (“death by hunger”) in the late 1920s-30s when Stalin and the Soviets stripped the country of its food and terrorized its residents.

First the Soviets demanded their food, executed people at will and conscripted men into the Red Army. As the Nazi’s invaded, the Soviets followed a scorched earth policy, destroying all in their path. It is now the 1941 and the people of Ukraine are at the mercy of the Nazis. Initially thought to be liberators, freeing them from the Soviets, they brought more horror, taking the Ukrainian’s food, stealing their children and young adults to work in factories, sending some younger Aryan looking children to Germany to be adopted, burning their villages, slaughtering innocents.

Litteken is a good story teller and she portrays the horrors without being overly graphic. Despite all the terror, there is love, hope and resilience. A repeating and somewhat uplifting theme is the legend and importance of the kalyna bush, a symbol of Ukraine - with white representing hope, red, the bloodshed of Ukrainians defending their homeland and green for continual renewal and new generations.

One indication of a good book is that it makes you feel something. Reading this book made me feel anger about what has happened in the past and what is going on in Ukraine now. How can one country have been subject to so much terror over such a long period of time and still exhibit resilience? Man’s inhumanity to man never ceases to astonish me.

This was a tough, but very important read.

Thanks to #netgalley and #boldwoodbooks for the ARC.

Erin Litteken's second novel, focalized by three young Ukrainian women, is a beautifully written story about little-known aspects of the Second World War, including the complex Ukrainian-Polish relations and the experiences of Slavic Ostarbeiters (Eastern slave workers). Litteken does not avoid nuances and challenging themes, unlike many other Anglophone authors of popular WWII-themed books. Moreover, she demonstrates the importance of intercultural solidarity and the power of little acts of resistance. Readers familiar with Litteken's bestselling The Memory Keeper of Kyiv will be pleased to learn more about the relationship between Halya and Katya after the Holodomor. Although it is not marketed as a young adult novel, The Lost Daughter of Ukraine has crossover potential and will appeal to fans of Amanda McCrina's The Silent Unseen, as well as older teenagers who grew up reading Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch's Making Bombs for Hitler. I highly recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Publication: April 24, 2023

I had a chance to read Litteken's first book and I realized that she was an author to watch out for. I saw on her IG that her second book was coming out in April. I ran to request it on Netgalley and I was out of this world when I got the approval.

This book continues following the historical lines of Ukraine amidst WW2 while weaving in the fictional aspects of the characters. This book gripped me right away and I knew it was going to be an amazing read. What I look for with historical fiction books involve compelling characters, historical pieces, and a balance of truth and hope. This book delivers so much!

The only reason it was a 4.5 star read for me is that I felt it moved a bit slower than her previous book. This book is also heavy to read. I found that I had to take breaks from it even though I was dying to know what happens to characters but as with anything regarding war, there are triggers one should look out for.

Perfect for fans: historical fiction, family saga, Kristin Hannah, Lisa See, Ruta Septys