The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh
I meant to read this book for school last year, but I just didn’t find the time. I came across it again, and when I read the summary, I pretty much started reading it the same day.
Matthew is stuck at home during the Covid lockdown, bored out of his mind. He starts to help GG, his great-grandmother, unpack some boxes. While going through her stuff, he finds an old photo of her and another girl. This photo seems to upset GG, and Matthew wants to know more.
Same!!! I would be all over this. I, too, ask a million questions when I find an old photo of family members. I wish I were better at writing things down when I was younger because I don’t remember all that my relatives, who are mostly passed on, have told me. I am now on genealogy websites, trying to make sense of it all. So, yeah, I get why Matthew is so curious.
The book is told from multiple perspectives. I appreciate that each chapter included the narrator’s name, location, and year. I would never have kept things straight with just the name. Matthew’s POV is in 2020, New Jersey. Mila is in the year 1932, Ukraine. Helen is in the year 1932 in New York.
In 1932/33 in Ukraine, a famine was happening that much of the world was unaware of, mainly because of a lack of information. There were newspaper reports from well-known and trusted journalists stating there was no famine, and people believed them without a second thought. I liked how the book pointed out that the news can get things wrong, and you have to do your own research. Helen and Mila were experiencing different lives, one in the US, the other in Ukraine, but their stories are related, and they come together in the end.
I never wanted to stop reading this book. I had it on my desk at school, and every spare second I had, I was reading this book. So good! Yes, there are different points of view with each chapter, but Matthew is sitting with his GG, going through all of her old paperwork, learning this story along with the reader! There are journals, letters, documents, and photos! Through all of these sources, you learn the fate of Mila and Helen as well as GG. This book really was wonderful. I loved the ending. I wonder how many similar stories there are out there in the world?
I also loved how Matthew is piecing together his GG’s life through these documents. I recently found a box of letters my aunt sent home while she was in college. I never knew what to do with these letters because they felt invasive, but she has been gone for many years, and after reading this book, I want to see what I can learn from these letters. Maybe I can ask my mom questions while I have the chance to better understand her life.
Five Out of Five Magical Coffee Cups
Literary Coffee 