The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh

Over the weekend, I finished reading The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh. This novel that blends historical fiction and realistic fiction is about Matthew, a thirteen-year-old boy who loves playing Zelda and desperately misses his dad during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic because he took a job in Paris and can't come home. When Matthew gets in trouble for nearly hitting his great-grandmother Nadiya, or GG, with a bow and arrow, his mom makes him help GG go through her belongings. After he comes across an old black-and-white photo of two girls, he discovers a shocking secret about GG's past as he learns about her life during the Holodomor famine, which devastated Soviet Ukraine in the 1930s. Piecing together GG's story, he finds out about GG's two cousins, Helen and Mila Lomachenko, who each played a role in the mystery of how GG came to live in America. While Helen lives in Depression-era Brooklyn, New York, after her parents immigrated to America, Mila, a Young Pioneer in Kyiv, Ukraine, is doted upon by her papa and strongly supports Papa Stalin. Although the three girls never met before the famine, Mila and Helen try to help Nadiya, who is starving to death, after she reaches out to them.

This novel was absolutely breathtaking and gripped me from the very start. I deeply loved all four of the main characters, Matthew, Nadiya, Mila, and Helen, and felt a connection with each of them in different ways. I admired Matthew's persistence in finding out his great-grandmother's secret past. Regarding Nadiya, I needed to know how exactly she survived after she lost everything and made her way to Kyiv to find her cousin Mila's family. As for Mila, I could understand her life of privilege, even if she was was motherless, and could relate to her experience of finding out harsh truths about the world. Finally, Helen's family was most like my own, having both parents and a younger brother, and I feared for her family when her pop had a heart attack and her mom had to work two jobs. Despite the challenges, I knew that Nadiya's best chance at survival would be to make it to Helen and her family. This story is definitely devastating and it made me cry a few times because of the tragedy in GG's past, but I was completely blown away by the plot twist. Although a bit sad, the end is satisfying and I truly enjoyed it. All in all, anyone who enjoys stories of family, survival, and sacrifice should read The Lost Year.