Book cover of The Women of Janowka: A Volhynian Family History

Book description

Founded by Germans, people in the Volhynian village of Janowka once lived a peaceful and affluent life. They co-exist on friendly terms with their Ukrainian, Polish, Russian and Jewish neighbours. When the world political climate changes at the end of the 19th century, Tsar Nicholas begins to make things difficult…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Women of Janowka as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This book of non-fiction. explores the multi-generational journey of three women caught in the web of Stalin and Hitler’s madness. It begins in 1904, in my mom’s rural Ukrainian neighbourhood of Volhynia, about two hours east of Kyiv, and ends here in my rural Manitoba, Canada near Beausejour in 2008. Canada is a country filled with immigrants and I was struck by how little we know of the journeys of the people around us. It motivated me to write and to continue to write my family stories.

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