Victoria Belim

A timely and deeply moving memoir of the author's Ukrainian family history, interwoven with the country's tumultuous story In 2014, the landmarks of Victoria Belim's personal geography were plunged into tumult at the hands of Russia. Her hometown Kyiv was gripped by protests and violent suppression. Crimea, where she'd once been sent to school to avoid radiation from the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, was invaded. Kharkiv, where her grandmother Valentina studied economics and fell in love; Donetsk, where her father once worked; and Mariupol, where she and her mother bought a cherry tree for Valentina's garden all became battlegrounds. A naturalized American citizen then living in Brussels, Belim felt she had to go back. She had to spend time with her aging grandmother and her cousin Dima. She had to unravel a family mystery spanning several generations. And she needed to understand how her country's tragic history of communist revolution, civil war, famine, world war, totalitarianism, and fraught independence had changed the course of their lives. The Rooster House is a beautifully written memoir of a family, a country's past, and its dangerous present. It is about parents and children, true believers and victims, gardens and art, secrets and tragedy. Compulsively readable, deeply moving, and at times laugh-out-loud funny, it is a stunning debut book by an experienced, expressive, and gifted writer.

A Ukrainian Family Story

The Rooster House

Geschichte meiner ukrainischen Familie

Rote Sirenen

Gdy Victoria Belim miała piętnaście lat, wraz z rodzicami opuściła Ukrainę i wyjechała do Chicago. Nigdy jednak nie zapomniała o swoim kraju i błogim dzieciństwie spędzonym na ukraińskiej wsi. W 2014 roku, na początku wojny, poczuła potrzebę powrotu do miejsca, które wciąż nazywa swoim domem. Przybyła do wsi Berig, gdzie mieszka jej babcia Valentina. Porządkując rzeczy po pradziadkach, znalazła zeszyt z przekreślonym zdaniem: „Brat Nikodim zaginął w latach 30., walcząc o wolną Ukrainę”. Victoria studiowała politykę postsowiecką i zdawała sobie sprawę, że odkrycie starych tajemnic podczas nowej wojny będzie skomplikowane. Nie spodziewała się jednak, że najsilniejszy opór stawi babcia, która zabroni jej zaglądać w przeszłość. W Połtawie KGB już dawno zniknęło, ale jego siedziba, Dom pod kogutami, wciąż przyprawia Ukraińców o dreszcze. Victoria za wszelką cenę chce dotrzeć do prawdy i zrozumieć tamtą Ukrainę, nawet jeśli doprowadzi to do konfliktów w rodzinie. Po części pamiętnik, po części śledztwo, „Dom pod kogutami” opowiada o podróży Victorii przez Ukrainę i o jej zaciętości w poszukiwaniu odpowiedzi na pytanie, co stoi za zniknięciem wuja. Jak się okazuje, jeden sekret prowadzi do następnego.

Dom pod Kogutami

A timely and deeply moving memoir of the author’s Ukrainian family history, interwoven with the country’s tumultuous story In 2014, the landmarks of Victoria Belim’s personal geography were plunged into tumult at the hands of Russia. Her hometown Kyiv was gripped by protests and violent suppression. Crimea, where she’d once been sent to school to avoid radiation from the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, was invaded. Kharkiv, where her grandmother Valentina studied economics and fell in love; Donetsk, where her father once worked; and Mariupol, where she and her mother bought a cherry tree for Valentina’s garden all became battlegrounds. A naturalized American citizen then living in Brussels, Belim felt she had to go back. She had to spend time with her aging grandmother and her cousin Dima. She had to unravel a family mystery spanning several generations. And she needed to understand how her country’s tragic history of communist revolution, civil war, famine, world war, totalitarianism, and fraught independence had changed the course of their lives. The Rooster House is a beautifully written memoir of a family, a country’s past, and its dangerous present. It is about parents and children, true believers and victims, gardens and art, secrets and tragedy. Compulsively readable, deeply moving, and at times laugh-out-loud funny, it is a stunning debut book by an experienced, expressive, and gifted writer.

My Ukrainian Family Story, A Memoir

A family history told across four generations as a young woman searches for traces of her great-uncle who disappeared during the 1930s, and through it, Ukraine's complex relationship with its Soviet past.[Bokinfo].

Victoria Belim

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