![]() There is a lot of historical information, but it is shown on a framework of a fast moving plot, held up by sympathetic characters. It's easy to sit in our comfortable homes and think "Well, why would they chance getting shot to get grain from the fields?", but the reality was that there was really no other choice. The horrific events are told honestly, but never in a sensational way just with heartbreaking humanity. Like all of Skrypuch's work, this is well researched, and has some connections to people who lived through similar circumstances. However, younger readers won't know a lot of this history. My best friend's mother's family had a farm in Latvia that was taken away from them, so Nyl's story seemed very familiar to me. Strengths: I am old enough that in the back of my mind, the Russians always seem evil. Nyl is determined to keep going, even though he suffered so many losses. She is kind, and takes good care of them, but Alice manages to find a way to get back to Canada. They make their way into Russian, and end up at the farm of Anna, who is elderly and needs help. The two meet up with Roman, who has taken to stealing in order to survive, and gain enough strength to move on. ![]() He manages to get forged identification papers, and they plan a sight seeing trip as cover, but when her father is arrested and Slavkov decides he wants to stay at the tractor factory, she and Nyl try to escape on their own. Nyl meets Alice again and hopes that she and her father, who has become disillusioned with Stalin, can get him out of the country. Nyl has an address for Roman, who father and mother were killed earlier, and decides to set out for the city to find him. Food becomes so scarce that Nyl and his mother try to dig up grain from the kolkhoz field, but they are discovered and the mother is shot and killed. Conditions worsen, food is scarce, and the father dies after Yulia decides that she is going to join the kolkhoz, having informed on her family. In the end, only Nyl's aunt and cousin are sent to try to make it to Poland. Their father has been beaten, and can barely walk, and knows it is time to try to leave Ukraine. When the boys find out that the tractor factory is not going to be providing tractors for the upcoming season, they know how devastating this will be, and return home. ![]() Even Slavko, at nine, works all day making bricks. Even the family's food is taken away, forcing Nyl and Slavko to travel to the new tractor factory to work there. Eventually, Nyl's family has all of their seed and equipment taken away, but are still expected to meet a quota for growing grain. The farmers who have joined the kolkhoz work long hours, but are hopeful that the government will pay them well, but that does not happen. Nyl is lucky that he is able to gets some of his family's animals out of the uncle's barn. The aunt is removed from the house, and all of her property is taken by Chort, who moves his family in. Unfortunately, this treatment comes close to home when Nyl's uncle argues with Comrade Chort, who shoots him dead, leaving behind his wife and baby daughter. Those who don't cooperate are deemed "kulaks" and face harsh treatment. The government is trying to force all farmers to join a collective, the kolkhoz, and are taking livestock, equipment, and other property to start this farm. ![]() When the government sends around Canadian George White and his daughter Alice to take an inventory of their farm, the family, which includes Nyl's younger siblings Slavko and Yulia, knows this will not end well. Nyl's family runs a farm in 1930s Ukraine near the village of Felivka, and life is becoming more and more difficult now that Stalin has come to power.
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