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Strong Roots: A Memoir of Food, Family, and Ukraine
A sweeping and poignant account of a woman’s life and her family history in Ukraine – from the dark years of Soviet rule to the Russian invasion in 2022 – and a beautiful, intimate portrait of a country's fight against erasure and the solace found through family, art, beauty, and food – from chef and co-founder of #CookForUkraine Olia Hercules
Olia Hercules was born and brought up in Ukraine and has spent the past decade traveling around its vast terrain, collecting countless recipes, traditions and stories. She has made it her mission to preserve and document the many unique ways of life she has experienced in her place of origin–both across the country and within her own family–in the pages of her award-winning cookbooks, making her understanding of the land completely unique.
When war broke out in 2022, Olia plunged herself into activism, raising over £2 million to date through the #CookforUkraine; ultimately working with over 140 restaurants in London alone to raise money for UNICEF. In STRONG ROOTS, she takes the reader on a journey, from her grandparents’ stories of life during the darkest times of Soviet rule, through to her own childhood as the Iron Curtain started to come apart, and on to the war-torn present day. This is a story about three generations of Olia’s extraordinary family–their quests, their quirks, their resilience, their sufferings, imprisonment, and near-starvation under the Communists–as well as their joy, their intense familial natures, and their food.
Olia Hercules was born and brought up in Ukraine and has spent the past decade traveling around its vast terrain, collecting countless recipes, traditions and stories. She has made it her mission to preserve and document the many unique ways of life she has experienced in her place of origin–both across the country and within her own family–in the pages of her award-winning cookbooks, making her understanding of the land completely unique.
When war broke out in 2022, Olia plunged herself into activism, raising over £2 million to date through the #CookforUkraine; ultimately working with over 140 restaurants in London alone to raise money for UNICEF. In STRONG ROOTS, she takes the reader on a journey, from her grandparents’ stories of life during the darkest times of Soviet rule, through to her own childhood as the Iron Curtain started to come apart, and on to the war-torn present day. This is a story about three generations of Olia’s extraordinary family–their quests, their quirks, their resilience, their sufferings, imprisonment, and near-starvation under the Communists–as well as their joy, their intense familial natures, and their food.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published August 12, 2025
72 people are currently reading
3695 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
September 26, 2025
I loved this book and enjoyed learning about Olia Hercules's Ukranian heritage. It's a truly remarkable account and gave me lots to ponder on. In the prologue, Hercules writes, "a sour cherry orchard right by a Ukranian house is a huge part of how we Ukranians perceive ourselves."
Tara Sherchenko's poem, 'A Cherry Orchard by the House,' - "conjures up images of a family dinner being prepared, the orchard itself wrapped in the comforting hum of bees, the chattering of young girls. At night, by the light of the evening star, nightingales sing. This is the idyllic essence of Ukraine, the place we all go in our heads when things feel tough."
I loved this description of fruit in an orchard - "The boozy windfall plums and unripe quinces with their felt cheeks."
In the chapter, Borsch in Italy, Hercules writes of how absorbing the task of making bread can be. "Kneading dough is a sensory repetition that forces you to observe the moment, to let go of the insistent buzz of anxiety." Could this be why so many people took to making their own bread during the pandemic when we were all home.
Volunteers from all over Ukraine began "making 'instant borsch' to be sent to the front lines." They dehydrated a range of vegetables and placed them in packets. The dried borsch mix could be mixed with boiling water to make a nutritious soup within minutes.
As war got closer and closer to her family's home town of Kherson Hercules writes that her parents left their home with nothing but clothing, "family photos, Mum and Dad's letters from the 1970s; [and some] of Mum's embroideries." Hercules believes that it is the "garden that my parents loved most about their home." They believe they will return.
Along their journey away from Kherson her parents are stopped at various checkpoints. The young man in the car ahead of them is strip searched. "The Russians checked for 'Nazi tattoos and any signs of combat, such as gun-bruised shoulders."
In the chapter, The Great Hush, Hercules writes about her grandmother "Liusia's garden, about joy and healing. But the suffering she endured is hard to go into. It prises open the lesions of generational trauma, intensifying that of my own. There is too much salt in the soup, too much salt in my wound."
"Liusia's garden is blahorodny. Blaho means 'good' and rod is 'birth.' A 'well-bred' garden then, not necessarily manicured, but full of flowers, there to please the eye, rather than functional."
From the Epilogue - "This is the Ukrainian-ness that is in my blood. This thirst for curiosity, this thirst for creativity, the capacity to allow your brain to find a space to exist in two unavoidable worlds."
"It is important to accept the existence of the dark, but it is our responsibility to hold on to the light."
Final words: Liusia's advice on growing roses: "Always look at the roots. If the roots are strong, it doesn't matter if the wind blows off the pretty petals. If the roots are strong, it doesn't matter if a storm breaks the fragile stem. It will all grow back again."
From the Acknowledgments: "Not one generation of my family has escaped dispossession, deportation or war."
"One of the reasons why I was so keen to write this book was to close the cycle of intergenerational trauma. To put it all down on paper, so my children can read it, process it and develop a resistance to what's to come."
Tara Sherchenko's poem, 'A Cherry Orchard by the House,' - "conjures up images of a family dinner being prepared, the orchard itself wrapped in the comforting hum of bees, the chattering of young girls. At night, by the light of the evening star, nightingales sing. This is the idyllic essence of Ukraine, the place we all go in our heads when things feel tough."
I loved this description of fruit in an orchard - "The boozy windfall plums and unripe quinces with their felt cheeks."
In the chapter, Borsch in Italy, Hercules writes of how absorbing the task of making bread can be. "Kneading dough is a sensory repetition that forces you to observe the moment, to let go of the insistent buzz of anxiety." Could this be why so many people took to making their own bread during the pandemic when we were all home.
Volunteers from all over Ukraine began "making 'instant borsch' to be sent to the front lines." They dehydrated a range of vegetables and placed them in packets. The dried borsch mix could be mixed with boiling water to make a nutritious soup within minutes.
As war got closer and closer to her family's home town of Kherson Hercules writes that her parents left their home with nothing but clothing, "family photos, Mum and Dad's letters from the 1970s; [and some] of Mum's embroideries." Hercules believes that it is the "garden that my parents loved most about their home." They believe they will return.
Along their journey away from Kherson her parents are stopped at various checkpoints. The young man in the car ahead of them is strip searched. "The Russians checked for 'Nazi tattoos and any signs of combat, such as gun-bruised shoulders."
In the chapter, The Great Hush, Hercules writes about her grandmother "Liusia's garden, about joy and healing. But the suffering she endured is hard to go into. It prises open the lesions of generational trauma, intensifying that of my own. There is too much salt in the soup, too much salt in my wound."
"Liusia's garden is blahorodny. Blaho means 'good' and rod is 'birth.' A 'well-bred' garden then, not necessarily manicured, but full of flowers, there to please the eye, rather than functional."
From the Epilogue - "This is the Ukrainian-ness that is in my blood. This thirst for curiosity, this thirst for creativity, the capacity to allow your brain to find a space to exist in two unavoidable worlds."
"It is important to accept the existence of the dark, but it is our responsibility to hold on to the light."
Final words: Liusia's advice on growing roses: "Always look at the roots. If the roots are strong, it doesn't matter if the wind blows off the pretty petals. If the roots are strong, it doesn't matter if a storm breaks the fragile stem. It will all grow back again."
From the Acknowledgments: "Not one generation of my family has escaped dispossession, deportation or war."
"One of the reasons why I was so keen to write this book was to close the cycle of intergenerational trauma. To put it all down on paper, so my children can read it, process it and develop a resistance to what's to come."
July 20, 2025
Having followed Hercules' food writing, this book was not what I was expecting. It is instead from the heart in a completely different way.
It is contemporaneous history rather than a foodie memoir, yet somehow it is this as well! It must be impossible to see your homeland invaded, your city captured, your family displaced. As a way of facing the horror Hercules brings her stories (and those of her family) to the table. Ukrainian society has been long disrupted by different cultures and the threads of her story are exemplified in the generational strands.
Inevitably the book circles "home". Hungry imperialism has made any definition incredibly important to enforced peripatetic lives. It is both a fascinating and heart breaking read. It is unusual (but we live in unusual times) to reflect on the recent present without the opportunity to reflect from a distance and for myself, this makes the book incredibly raw.
It is contemporaneous history rather than a foodie memoir, yet somehow it is this as well! It must be impossible to see your homeland invaded, your city captured, your family displaced. As a way of facing the horror Hercules brings her stories (and those of her family) to the table. Ukrainian society has been long disrupted by different cultures and the threads of her story are exemplified in the generational strands.
Inevitably the book circles "home". Hungry imperialism has made any definition incredibly important to enforced peripatetic lives. It is both a fascinating and heart breaking read. It is unusual (but we live in unusual times) to reflect on the recent present without the opportunity to reflect from a distance and for myself, this makes the book incredibly raw.
Want to read
August 20, 2025NY Times gave this one a very positive review: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/17/bo...
Excerpt:
“I often say that if I could do nothing else except chop [cabbage] for the rest of my days, I would be happy,” the chef Olia Hercules writes in “Strong Roots,” a memoir of her Ukrainian heritage that gives fresh charge to that dull old adjective “bittersweet.” “It’s meditative, it’s calming. Magical, wondrous things happen when you chop.” ...
Hercules’ maternal grandmother, Liusia, who died at 84 in the early aughts, emerges as a formidable heroine. During “holodomor,” Stalin’s intentional famine of Ukrainian peasants in the early 1930s, she was forcibly and most horribly “repatriated” with her siblings by cattle train to northern Russia."
Excerpt:
“I often say that if I could do nothing else except chop [cabbage] for the rest of my days, I would be happy,” the chef Olia Hercules writes in “Strong Roots,” a memoir of her Ukrainian heritage that gives fresh charge to that dull old adjective “bittersweet.” “It’s meditative, it’s calming. Magical, wondrous things happen when you chop.” ...
Hercules’ maternal grandmother, Liusia, who died at 84 in the early aughts, emerges as a formidable heroine. During “holodomor,” Stalin’s intentional famine of Ukrainian peasants in the early 1930s, she was forcibly and most horribly “repatriated” with her siblings by cattle train to northern Russia."
September 11, 2025
5 stars really isn't enough, it deserves 10 or 15. Olia Hercules writes with such passion and depth about her family's and country's history - the tragedy, fear, and heartache of wars and politics that ravaged both lamd and people, but also the joys of home and family even in imperfect circumstances, and the bravery of the people who've chosen to defend their homeland rather than flee.
I highly recommend the audiobook version read by Olia, as her gentle, emotion-filled voice adds so much and makes it feel like a friend telling you their story.
I highly recommend the audiobook version read by Olia, as her gentle, emotion-filled voice adds so much and makes it feel like a friend telling you their story.
June 28, 2025
Olia writes with such beauty and poetry. As a Ukrainian, reading it felt like hearing my family history being told. Such a beautiful, heartbreaking and hopeful telling of Ukraine and her history through the stories of Olia’s ancestors.
August 18, 2025
book:Strong Roots: A Memoir of Food, Family, and Ukraine|219520768] by chef and cookbook author is quite a timely memoir. It is the very essence of a family drama:
"The act of cooking was interwoven so tightly with my family and my homeland that even the mundane act of chopping through a cabbage made me burst into tears. Cooking also felt like frivolity. How can I cook while my brother is running with a gun in a forest, defending Kyiv, and my mum and dad are living under occupation? Any hint of pleasure felt like a betrayal. And cooking, one of the biggest pleasures in my life, felt like the biggest betrayal. It just did not feel right, and sometimes I feared I might have lost my superpower forever."
While Olia lives in London her family is in danger in her native Ukraine, so she begins writing a memoir examining her family and countries history always with the backdrop of food being prepared in the background. There is plov, pelmeni dumplings, beshbarmak meat and noodles, and always on the table borscht.
In my hometown in the 1960s there was a significant population of Ukrainians, we often shopped or gassed up at a little country store where the owner was Ukrainian and I had a vague idea that he had come to America to escape Russian oppression. Olia Hercules skillfully clarifies what the "oppression" involved and still involves and what it did to her family.
I found this book to be enlightening. My one problem with it is keeping straight her timeline and her family members even though she kindly provided a family tree.
For anyone interested in the history of Ukraine this is a good starting point.
"The act of cooking was interwoven so tightly with my family and my homeland that even the mundane act of chopping through a cabbage made me burst into tears. Cooking also felt like frivolity. How can I cook while my brother is running with a gun in a forest, defending Kyiv, and my mum and dad are living under occupation? Any hint of pleasure felt like a betrayal. And cooking, one of the biggest pleasures in my life, felt like the biggest betrayal. It just did not feel right, and sometimes I feared I might have lost my superpower forever."
While Olia lives in London her family is in danger in her native Ukraine, so she begins writing a memoir examining her family and countries history always with the backdrop of food being prepared in the background. There is plov, pelmeni dumplings, beshbarmak meat and noodles, and always on the table borscht.
In my hometown in the 1960s there was a significant population of Ukrainians, we often shopped or gassed up at a little country store where the owner was Ukrainian and I had a vague idea that he had come to America to escape Russian oppression. Olia Hercules skillfully clarifies what the "oppression" involved and still involves and what it did to her family.
I found this book to be enlightening. My one problem with it is keeping straight her timeline and her family members even though she kindly provided a family tree.
For anyone interested in the history of Ukraine this is a good starting point.
June 22, 2025
"I start a list of occasions when I see my ancestors' smiles..."
Interlacing the effects of the war in Ukraine with stories of her family's past, Olia Hercules' memoir connects the story of a nation to the story of its food, from the dill that seasons so many of its dishes to the packaged borscht that volunteers prepare for soldiers on Ukraine's front lines. It's thus apt that Hercules weaves culinary metaphors throughout her prose—a village is in "an area as soft and round as a golden dome of sweet, yeasted bread", a woman's face "scrunches like a dried apricot"—evocatively demonstrating how cuisine is interwoven with the land and its inhabitants. In how it relates Ukraine's historical and continued struggle to retain its unique cultural identity, STRONG ROOTS offers a beautiful celebration of this country, its people, and the food that nourishes them.
Interlacing the effects of the war in Ukraine with stories of her family's past, Olia Hercules' memoir connects the story of a nation to the story of its food, from the dill that seasons so many of its dishes to the packaged borscht that volunteers prepare for soldiers on Ukraine's front lines. It's thus apt that Hercules weaves culinary metaphors throughout her prose—a village is in "an area as soft and round as a golden dome of sweet, yeasted bread", a woman's face "scrunches like a dried apricot"—evocatively demonstrating how cuisine is interwoven with the land and its inhabitants. In how it relates Ukraine's historical and continued struggle to retain its unique cultural identity, STRONG ROOTS offers a beautiful celebration of this country, its people, and the food that nourishes them.
December 4, 2025
Written by Ukrainian chef & food writer Olia Hercules, I thought this was going to be a more lighthearted take on growing up in the Ukraine, with family food experiences mixed in. What I got was a book with very heavy Ukrainian history—both of the country and her family—with very little food writing. It is rated very well, and I am sure many will enjoy it; it just wasn't what I was expecting.
August 24, 2025
More a memoir of family than food, this book is essential reading for anyone who cares about Ukraine’s fight for independence and wants to know more about its history and people. I was 10-12 when the USSR began to break apart and the Berlin Wall came down, and I sensed its significance but didn’t really understand or know details. This book gives the details of how we got there then, and here now, through the stories of one food writer’s family. A really engaging and informing read.
August 12, 2025
If you love Olia's books and its recipes' intros: this is the book for you.
And if you are familiarized with Ivan Bahriany's novels don't miss out.
Through a very well written book we get to know generations of Olia's family and the ordeals they went through under the Soviet regime as well as with russia's invasion of Ukraine.
A great book if you want to get the main points of Ukraine's recent history (yes, Ukraine is a very old country) and struggles in a non boring way and, weird as it may sound, you will enjoy it. Of course it depicts sad events (thus its sense of urgency), but reading this book is not a miserable experience.
You will feel the love, determination and gain so much admiration for this group of people that, just like any other family, talks at the same time, expresses love through food and imitates its family members voices when telling stories.
People who go through war face depersonalization and are often seen as numbers. To know personal stories help us to keep our humanity and empathy.
And if you are afraid the book will be just repeated stories, don't be. I've learned much more than I already knew.
And if you are familiarized with Ivan Bahriany's novels don't miss out.
Through a very well written book we get to know generations of Olia's family and the ordeals they went through under the Soviet regime as well as with russia's invasion of Ukraine.
A great book if you want to get the main points of Ukraine's recent history (yes, Ukraine is a very old country) and struggles in a non boring way and, weird as it may sound, you will enjoy it. Of course it depicts sad events (thus its sense of urgency), but reading this book is not a miserable experience.
You will feel the love, determination and gain so much admiration for this group of people that, just like any other family, talks at the same time, expresses love through food and imitates its family members voices when telling stories.
People who go through war face depersonalization and are often seen as numbers. To know personal stories help us to keep our humanity and empathy.
And if you are afraid the book will be just repeated stories, don't be. I've learned much more than I already knew.
August 28, 2025
This book is basically the author's love letter to her home country of Ukraine. The author was born in Kakhovka in southern Ukraine near Crimea. She moved to London as an adult, but her family - including her parents and brother - still live in Ukraine up until the time of the most recent war with Russia. Her home time is just outside Crimea and as of the present, is part of the territory Russia has taken over.
The author is a chef and has written several cookbooks. In this memoir, she intertwines her love of food and cooking with the story of her family across four generations. The story shows not only the turmoil that Ukraine and its people have suffered through over the years, but the pride they have in their country and their heritage.
Beautifully written and something everyone should read to learn more about Ukraine and what is happening there. It will break your heart and give you hope at the same time.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The author is a chef and has written several cookbooks. In this memoir, she intertwines her love of food and cooking with the story of her family across four generations. The story shows not only the turmoil that Ukraine and its people have suffered through over the years, but the pride they have in their country and their heritage.
Beautifully written and something everyone should read to learn more about Ukraine and what is happening there. It will break your heart and give you hope at the same time.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
September 25, 2025
This is a family memoir, spanning four generations, of celebrity cook and cookbook writer Olia Hercules. It is proud and fearful in turn, and a snap shot of 20th and 21st Ukrainian history.
Do not expect a cookbook full of Ukrainian recipes, or a story told primarily through food. Instead there are family stories: of a harsh life under Russian Soviet rule, including a grandmother's deportation to Siberia; of other close relatives' imprisonment; of the quiet, stubborn resistance of aunts and uncles.
Hercules's pride in the perseverance of Ukrainian culture--its literature, its art, and the precious Ukrainian language itself--shines through every page. So does her anxiety about the culture's survival, given Russia's brutal war against Ukraine.
She does write convincingly of how food--borscht, the dumplings called vareniki, desserts of sour cherries--binds people together.
A book for those who enjoy family histories, and history itself as it plays out in individual peoples' lives.
Do not expect a cookbook full of Ukrainian recipes, or a story told primarily through food. Instead there are family stories: of a harsh life under Russian Soviet rule, including a grandmother's deportation to Siberia; of other close relatives' imprisonment; of the quiet, stubborn resistance of aunts and uncles.
Hercules's pride in the perseverance of Ukrainian culture--its literature, its art, and the precious Ukrainian language itself--shines through every page. So does her anxiety about the culture's survival, given Russia's brutal war against Ukraine.
She does write convincingly of how food--borscht, the dumplings called vareniki, desserts of sour cherries--binds people together.
A book for those who enjoy family histories, and history itself as it plays out in individual peoples' lives.
October 9, 2025
The writer, a Ukrainian chef who now lives in London with her family, felt the need to tell her story and that of her country and of Crimea, after the Russians launched their war against them in 2022. Thanks to the stories of her family, dating back to her grandparents to the present day, we learn about Ukrainian history throughout time. Being neighbors to Russia has resulted in a very difficult fate for them. Its inhabitants have been ravaged by invasions, wars, country partitions, torture, language and flag change, among many other scourges. Ukraine is so far away from America that I had very little knowledge of this country. I learnt a lot, but what impressed me most was the terrible physical and emotional consequences of the displaced, the emigrants, and all those who lost their home country. It is a completely different feeling reading it in the news and hearing it directly from a person affected.
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January 2, 2026I didn't know how neatly this book would fit into my reading. I had just finished Motherland:A Feminist History of Russia, etc. by Julia Ioffe, when this book appeared in my stack :) It's a perfect next book to read. I was deeply moved by the accounts in both books of the families and their histories. The ache you can't put into words that you feel in your esophagus as if you have a sore throat all the way to your stomach..pain that doesn't let up even as life goes on. Just the other day more pain for families in the news all over the world. Sometimes I am overloaded because there is my own pain as well, both emotional and physical.
This book is a wonderful story of family interwoven with food and gardening and war. Well done. really well done.
It was all i could do not to cry my eyes out, but i knew if i did there would be no stopping.
This book is a wonderful story of family interwoven with food and gardening and war. Well done. really well done.
It was all i could do not to cry my eyes out, but i knew if i did there would be no stopping.
September 20, 2025
If you would like to know what it feels like to be Ukrainian in this moment, read this book. Author and food writer, Olia Hercule longs for her home country from her present home in London, yearns to see old places and old friends. She shares rituals with the reader, especially food rituals. She reveres her relatives and ancestors and tells their stories. The Ukrainian history is so broken and mended, disturbed and reordered, and now bullet ridden, again. Still the people are courageous, proud, and determined to fight for what is theirs. Strong roots paints a portrait of an enduring culture that can't be replaced or displaced.
December 8, 2025
A moving, multi-faceted memoir about Ukraine, food, and family by the chef and food writer Olia Hercules. I have used and loved one of Hercules's cookbooks, Mamushka, for years, so I was excited to pick up her new memoir when I heard about it. I learned a great deal about Ukraine's recent history and culture through Hercules's stories about her own family over the past century through their present-day experiences living through the Russian invasion and resulting war. Beautifully written book that reemphasized to this reader the tenacity, grit, and righteousness of the Ukrainian people.
January 2, 2026
The first thing that drew me to this book is the stunning cover. I wanted to keep it because it looks so pretty on my coffee table, but I own a little free library 📚 and enjoy getting books into the hands of others more.
Strong Roots is a memoir about Ukraine and the authors family history. I enjoyed the authors writing and her incorporation of the food she makes especially being a chef. You could read her love for cooking and how it brings family together.
I received this as an ARC. All opinions are my own. Thank you Penguin Random House, Little Free Library, & Olia Hercules.
I added this to my little free library and it was picked up in one day ❤️
Strong Roots is a memoir about Ukraine and the authors family history. I enjoyed the authors writing and her incorporation of the food she makes especially being a chef. You could read her love for cooking and how it brings family together.
I received this as an ARC. All opinions are my own. Thank you Penguin Random House, Little Free Library, & Olia Hercules.
I added this to my little free library and it was picked up in one day ❤️
January 4, 2026
I was born in Kherson, only 100 kilometers from the author. We are around the same age. Reading Strong Roots filled me with catharsis and allowed me to grieve a little deeper. It left me feeling as if I met a kindred spirit who guided me through a cultural journey, dissecting and examining my own Ukrainian roots and epigenetic traits. Yet Olia’s memoir brought on melancholy and lament about my small, scattered family which lacks togetherness in contrast. Despite these feelings, I am grateful to have read the book. I cannot wait to make more Ukrainian dishes soon, the smells of which transform me to a place of my childhood almost instantly. What a gift that is!
September 19, 2025
Loved that it gave me current events with Ukraine and Russia as well as rich historical context. And it offered all this with such an eye for beauty in a sea of heartbreak. It was personal with perspectives from the author's family. I feel like a more intelligent and compassionate person after reading this. Though heartbreaking, it gave me such hope for humanity and was easier to read because of the author's own beautiful mind and soul.
December 13, 2025
read this because i was missing ukraine, and it made me feel a lot closer to home, but 3 stars because the writing was a bit clunky and general structure felt all over the place so i couldn’t fully get lost in this. i am also comparing this to THE ROOSTER HOUSE which kind of changed my life, so high expectations for this to compete with! but these stories are so important & i love olia’s work. i am glad i read this and always grateful to hear more stories from my homeland <3
July 19, 2025
In light of current events, this was an essential read for me and our local book club. It's beautifully done and will evoke many emotions. I learned a lot about the Ukrainian people...their culture, their history and their food. Once you are done listening to or reading this story, I recommend listening to the author interview on the Good Food podcast with Samuel Goldsmith.
October 15, 2025
This is both a memoir of a family over the course of generations, a tutorial of Ukrainian culture, and processing being displaced because of a war. Well written, heartfelt and inspiring, it’s a solid pick. It’s clear the author loves her home, and it’s a travesty that it still continues to be fought over, as it deserves to be its own independent nation.
November 8, 2025
Well written and insightful. The author ties the generations together in an interesting pattern that both shows the suffering that Ukrainians are experiencing now and what they have previously endured. I love the authors concept of strong Roots make resilient people - it's all about family...for all of us!
October 18, 2025
Reflection on different periods of Ukrainian history connected to the food and families. Sometimes it feels like stalking someone else's lives.
It is great read, especially if you are not familiar with history of Eastern Europe.
It is great read, especially if you are not familiar with history of Eastern Europe.
November 1, 2025
I enjoyed this book giving a history of old and modern 🇺🇦Ukraine. it got a bit messy in places and hard to follow the Ukrainian names shared by many family members and a little repetitive in places. I loved the metaphor at then end about the string root always regrowing
December 27, 2025
Given the current war in Ukraine, this book provides some interesting historical context. And I love how the author is using her platform to actually provide aid in Ukraine, even providing her brother and those fighting alongside him with protective gear.
August 1, 2025
An important record of real life stories and the impact of war on Ukrainians.
August 21, 2025
A joy for someone with recent time in Kyiv, who also finds solace in chopping vegetables. But heartfelt and poignant throughout.
Want to read
August 26, 2025Rec by NYT book review 8/26/25
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