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Bread and Salt
1947. Boatloads of Displaced Persons arrive in Britain, stateless and penniless. The Ministry of Labour finds them somewhere to live, and a job…but takes away their freedom of choice.
Will Natalya and Taras be able to stay together while trying to navigate the rules of this strange land? And, left behind the Iron Curtain, how will her two young sisters cope with the NKVD’s bullying? Will they manage to avoid the deportations and summary executions?
Unable to communicate with one another, the three sisters live in hope of one day being re-united, but will this ever be possible?
Will Natalya and Taras be able to stay together while trying to navigate the rules of this strange land? And, left behind the Iron Curtain, how will her two young sisters cope with the NKVD’s bullying? Will they manage to avoid the deportations and summary executions?
Unable to communicate with one another, the three sisters live in hope of one day being re-united, but will this ever be possible?
329 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 11, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 26, 2018
This is the third in Dziedzan's My Lost Country series, and I was anxious to read it after reading and enjoying so much the first two. The story has now moved on and starts in 1947, after the war. Natalia and her husband have found it impossible to return to their homeland of Ukraine, only Stalin's revenge awaits them there. She is separated from her mother and two sisters and looks forward to a time when they can be reunited.
But the years ago by, and the two halves of her family cannot even contact each other. Her mother has died, but it would be years before she finds out. The narrative is moved along, by way of comparing the lives of Natalia and her sisters at various points in time, lives in England and lives in Ukraine.
Natalia and Taras struggle to start a new life in a strange country trying to establish a presence for themselves after arriving with nothing. But back in Ukraine, her two young sisters face far more dangerous struggles under the oppressive regime of the NKVD.
This is a hard read at times, but a rewarding one. The story is character lead just like the first two in the series. This is good stuff.
But the years ago by, and the two halves of her family cannot even contact each other. Her mother has died, but it would be years before she finds out. The narrative is moved along, by way of comparing the lives of Natalia and her sisters at various points in time, lives in England and lives in Ukraine.
Natalia and Taras struggle to start a new life in a strange country trying to establish a presence for themselves after arriving with nothing. But back in Ukraine, her two young sisters face far more dangerous struggles under the oppressive regime of the NKVD.
This is a hard read at times, but a rewarding one. The story is character lead just like the first two in the series. This is good stuff.
November 26, 2021
Astonishing story that I really enjoyed reading. Although fictionalised it’s clear that many of those things did happen to those courageous women and reveals what extraordinary lengths they went to order to survive; the scene with the berries is particularly gripping. The sprinklings of suspense, adventure, heartache and joy make it an interesting way of highlighting the plight of so many Ukrainian women at the end of the Second World War. The characters have cleverly been brought to life so we really want them to succeed. I couldn’t put this book down and I cried at the end.
August 2, 2019
Brilliantly evocative
Moved to tears by such stoical, practical responses to man's inhumanity. Although it's fiction it is based on real lives
Moved to tears by such stoical, practical responses to man's inhumanity. Although it's fiction it is based on real lives
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews