Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга третя. Несправджені сподівання. Quotes

“I took my own and Kolya’s two-day ration of bread and lard to the hospital,” the boy said, with unsettling calm beyond his years. “We must do everything we can to save him. If he dies, he won’t need food anymore.”
Danilo’s eyes filled with tears.
“Oh God, how could you let this happen?” he thought bitterly. “Is it fair to take a piece from one starving child to give it to another?”
He pulled his son’s head to his chest.
“You’re probably right,” he said quietly.
After a while, he returned from the pantry with an unusually full bucket of cornmeal and two bundles.
“Mother,” Danilo said to his mother-in-law, handing her the food, “besides the usual bread, bake a few pies with lard and pumpkin—for Kolya… and for Peter.”
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Three


Context note:
Set during the Holodomor, this scene captures the impossible moral choices faced by families during the man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine. A child’s stark logic forces adults to confront the inhuman calculus of survival—where compassion meant redistributing hunger, and saving one life could mean endangering another.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга третя. Несправджені сподівання.: Все буде Голодомор.

“The boys lived in their own simple, carefree world, unconcerned with hygiene and unaware of the theory of evolution. Yet ruthless natural selection—further intensified by human disregard for its principles and the laws of biology—allowed only the strongest and most enduring to survive.
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Three


Context note:
This quote reflects childhood lived under harsh social neglect, where survival depended not on care or knowledge, but on physical resilience. Set against the backdrop of Soviet Ukraine, it uses the metaphor of natural selection to expose how indifference to basic human and biological needs shaped who endured—and who did not.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга третя. Несправджені сподівання.: Все буде Голодомор.

“Faith in God turned into the destruction of churches; collectivization into the Holodomor; hope for a better future into the loss of loved ones. People sought justice, but received unjust court verdicts; they defended their homeland, only to become prisoners or victims of occupation.
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Three (book description)


Context note:
This quote reflects the tragic fate of ordinary people in Soviet Ukraine during the 1930s–1940s, when religious persecution, forced collectivization, the Holodomor, political repression, and war shattered personal lives and destroyed hopes for justice and freedom.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга третя. Несправджені сподівання.: Все буде Голодомор.