The Last Green Valley by Mark T. SullivanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
As Stalin's forces advance into Ukraine in late March 1944, Emil and Adeline Martel must make a terrible choice: do they wait for the Soviet bear's arrival and risk being sent to Siberia? Or do they grudgingly follow the wolves—murderous Nazi officers pledging to protect "pure-blooded" Germans? The Martels are many German-origin families whose ancestors have farmed in Ukraine for over a century. But, having already lived under Stalin's heinous regime, Emil and Adeline decide to flee their homeland with the wolves they despise to escape the Soviets and seek freedom. Caught between two warring forces and overcoming horrifying trials to pursue their dream of emigrating to the West, the Martels' story is a brutal, complex, and ultimately triumphant tale that demonstrates the extraordinary power of love, faith, and one family's incredible will to survive and see the West.
The ethnic Germans brought to Ukraine by Katherine The Great and holding to their ethnicity for generations are not precisely the people one thinks about WWII victims. But they are the main characters of this book.
The story follows the Martel family from the 1930s till the present. They experienced a Stalin rule, including Holodomor (great famine) and German rule in Ukraine. Then they move through different countries following war events and seeking survival. They are sometimes protected (primarily by Germans) prosecuted (mostly by Soviets).
The story jumps a little in time initially, and Martel's lives during Stalin times in Ukraine are shown more like glimpses of the past. After this, the plot becomes linear primarily in time, except for just one (but significant) event.
Despite the abundance of suffering, the gory descriptions are kept to a minimum.
The author does a great job often presenting complicated, political situations (specially Ukrainian). The physical and moral dilemmas the characters face (mostly Emil's) are heartbreaking and force a question, "what would I do in his place?".
In the end, it is a story about survival, family bonds, and the unbroken human spirit. There is also a tiny touch of almost supernatural or mystical elements there.
It was not precisely a "page-turner" for me (I do not think it was supposed to be, it is not a thriller), but I will remember this story.
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