A 13-year-old boy trapped indoors by Covid-19 uncovers a dark family secret leading back to the Holodomor, the early 1930s Ukrainian famine caused by Stalin's policies.When the pandemic shuts down the world in 2020, Matthew is more isolated than most kids. His journalist father is stuck in Paris, and since his mom has moved GG, his frail, 100-year-old, Ukrainian immigrant great-grandmother, in with them, protecting her means Matthew can't see his friends. Matthew starts helping GG sort her boxes of keepsakes, gradually piecing together a story that's also told from the points of view of Mila, the privileged daughter of a Communist Party member, and Helen, the daughter of Ukrainian immigrants living in Brooklyn. When Helen's cousins write to say they are starving, she secretly mails them her father's cherished gold cross. Meanwhile, in Kyiv, Mila encounters a starving girl who claims to be her cousin Nadiya. Mila is a strong supporter of Papa Stalin, but her efforts to help Nadiya ultimately open her eyes to the truth about his regime-as well as endangering her own life. Marsh's intertwining narratives ground the story of the Holodomor-which affected her own family-within a historical framework while leading up to a completely believable and emotionally powerful conclusion. A strong subplot discusses journalistic integrity and how one powerful man managed to keep the truth of the Holodomor hidden for years.A moving presentation of a long-suppressed piece of history. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 9-14)

Gr 5 Up —Four intertwined narratives explore a family history full of suffering, sacrifice, and secrets. Much of the book explores the events in the early 1930s around the Holomodor (death by starvation) in Ukraine. Mila, Nadia, and Helen are the Lomachenko cousins at the center of the story. Helen is in America; Mila is the daughter of a powerful Communist party member in Kyiv; and Nadia lives with her rural farming family in Ukraine. The story opens in 2020 where Matthew spends a lot of time with his great-grandmother during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in New Jersey, and she shares the untold story of her early life as one of the cousins as they go through her box of memories. Matthew seeks help from his reporter father who is working in Europe. The chapters are titled with the name of the character they feature and include an image, location, and date, which helps keep everyone straight as there are a lot of shifting perspectives. The narrative structure is a bit clunky at times, but the story is compelling. VERDICT With appealing connections to a family living in the time of the pandemic and insight into the history of Ukraine, this striking work of historical fiction dives into the importance of telling one's story and preserving the history of everyday people.—Erin Wyatt