Susan Bennet Erin Litteken grew up in Momence, Illinois, and now lives in Troy, which is just outside St. Louis. The ending felt rushed. After a long dilly-dallying by Cassie wondering about the past, the climax felt like it covered too much within a single chapter. What has your own experience with Ukraine been prior to this book? Did the settings feel familiar from your own travels there?

Ukraine is fertile and plentiful, and Stalin thinks we should be the breadbasket of the Soviet Union. To achieve that, he wants us to give up our land and join collective farms. This has been going on in villages all across Ukraine for months, and they could arrive here at any time.” A debut author with plenty of promise writes to educate us on the past oppression of the Ukraine people as it coincides with recent parallel tragedy. She reminds us that throughout the centuries there’ve been many authoritarian leaders trying to eradicate Ukraine and its people, most famously, Stalin and now, Putin. The desire has always been to stamp out Ukrainians and take their land. Litteken, a granddaughter of a WW2 Ukrainian refugee, wants readers to learn from history….as it’s repeating itself in real-time.

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Wisconsin, 2004. Ever since Cassie’s husband died in a road accident 14 months ago, her five year old daughter Birdie and she have been struggling to let go of their grief. When Grandma Bobby begins suffering from memory issues, Cassie’s mom decides that it would be best for Cassie and Birdie to shift into Bobby’s house for a mutual support. Here, Cassie discovers a journal written in Ukrainian, which seems to contain some secrets of the past. Set in Ukraine in the early 1930s, this book tells the story of Katya and her family. In the present day Cassie and her family live in Illinois. The dual timeline takes us from the horrors of the Holodomor, when Stalin’s regime forced the collectivisation of farms across the Soviet Union and one family’s fight for survival, and the present day where Cassie has to learn to live without the love of her life. This novel hits all the right notes–historical fiction about a subject most people don’t know about, romance, family bonds and secrets, and a beautiful, cathartic ending. Please insert a short description of your recipe and why it relates to your novel. Include any information you think readers would enjoy!

After her husband’s death, Cassie felt she had lost her ability to write. Birdie stopped talking. Have you – or has someone close to you – ever felt that words have failed you after a trauma? Katya and Kolya ate many atypical things to survive, all of which were based on survivors’ accounts. Which stood out to you the most?This is a story of the resilience of the human spirit, the love that sees us through our darkest hours and the true horror of what happened during the Holodomor. Zeventig jaar later. Omdat Katya’s kleindochter Cassie jong weduwe is geworden, trekt ze tijdelijk bij haar oma in. Daar ontdekt ze het dagboek van haar grootmoeder, dat het schokkende verhaal achter haar familie onthult: een verhaal over hoop, doorzettingsvermogen en liefde onder de meest barre omstandigheden. The Memory Keeper of Kyiv is a meticulously researched novel brilliantly depicting the horrific events of Stalin’s systematic destruction of a country... Reading this story felt all the more poignant in the current climate knowing that the proud people of Ukraine are once again suffering appalling atrocities as they fight to survive at the hands of others determined to ruin them. A captivating, heartfelt debut which was at times achingly painful to read." The Memory Keeper of Kyiv is a dual-timeline novel. It follows a young woman and her family as they deal with Stalin’s invasion and the resulting famine in the 1930s and her granddaughter as she comes to term with her own losses and seeks to reconnect with her family heritage in the early 2000s.