Fall River

by Alexander J. Motyl

Fall River is a novel based on the life stories and personal memories of the author's mother, uncle, and aunt. "Fall River" is a multi-dimensional exploration of how family history, Ukrainian roots, and European war shaped the personal destinies of three Ukrainian Americans who were born in Fall River, grew up in interwar Poland, and returned to an America that was as alienating as it was welcoming. Narrated from different, though intersecting, perspectives, "Fall River" paints a complex portrait of American emigrants forced by fate to become Ukrainian refugees and European immigrants.

152 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 17, 2014

About the author

Alexander J. Motyl (Олександр Мотиль) is professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark, as well as a writer and painter. He served as associate director of the Harriman Institute at Columbia University from 1992 to 1998. A specialist on Ukraine, Russia, and the USSR, he is the author of several political science books and articles.

Nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2008 and 2013, he is the author of six novels, Whiskey Priest, Who Killed Andrei Warhol, Flippancy, The Jew Who Was Ukrainian, My Orchidia, and The Taste of Snow.

He has done performances of his fiction and poetry at the Cornelia Street Café and the Bowery Poetry Club. Motyl’s artwork has been exhibited in solo and group shows in NYC, Philadelphia, and Toronto and is on display on the Internet gallery, www.artsicle.com. He teaches at Rutgers University-Newark and lives in NYC.