Stalin is starving Ukraine. Millions are dying. One mother will risk everything to save her family.
UKRAINE, 1927. The harvest is abundant. Food is plentiful. Amalia's family is whole. But the world as she knows it is unraveling, and she must now fight to save her family. Alone.
By 1932, Stalin and his Soviet forces tighten their grip on Ukraine, seizing land, confiscating food, pounding on doors in the dead of night and sending dissenters on one-way trains to the gulags. Hiding even a single handful of grain becomes a death sentence, and entire villages fall silent as famine spreads.
In this perilous time, Amalia must confront unrelenting hunger and cruelty. Everything is stripped away, still she clings to one belief. One hope. One prayer. Her children will survive. But only if hunger or Stalin's men don't take her first.
Set against the harrowing backdrop of the Holodomor-Stalin's forced famine in Ukraine-this rich, sweeping historical novel, inspired by true accounts of the author's family, brings to life one of the most devastating and overlooked tragedies of the 20th century. Through loss, endurance, and fragile hope, Amalia's journey reveals the strength of a mother's love and the quiet courage it takes to survive when the world is determined to break you.
Perfect for readers of World War II and Soviet-era historical fiction, this powerful novel based on a true story sheds light on a hidden genocide nearly erased from history, and the resilience of those who survived.