A review by evamadera1
The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh

4.0

Katherine Marsh did an outstanding job with this novel. Had I not read Red Famine a couple years ago, I would have known nothing about this horrible, government inflicted family, the Holodomor, that caused the death of 80% of the Ukrainian population, over 3 million people! Marsh writes from a place of authenticity, telling fictionalized versions of what could have been her own family's story. I also really admire the way that she chose to tell the story with two of the three point of view characters being directly connected to but not experiencing the famine firsthand and the third point of view connecting back form the height of the 2020 pandemic lockdowns. The main story, set during the famine, revolves around three cousins who have never met - one in the United States, one in the countryside directly affected by the famine, and one in Kiev who lived in blissful ignorance of the famine until the unexpected arrival of her emaciated cousin on her doorstep. The 2020 point of view focuses on the great-grandson of one of those cousins, his attempt to navigate the new, weird lockdown world, especially difficult for him because of his dad's new job posting in Paris with no end to the separation in sight. All of these characters, especially the cousin in Kiev, had to unlearn and relearn what they believe and why they believe it, a powerful message, especially for today.