A March Madness welcome to Author Andy Szpuk. "Sliding On The Snow Stone"
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ANDY SZPUK:
Andy is a novelist and short story writer from Nottingham, UK. In 2011, his debut novel, a historical memoir, Sliding on the Snow Stone was published by Night Publishing.
He is currently researching and planning his forthcoming historical novel, Carved into Crystalline Heights which chronicles the story of a Ukrainian ethnic group, the Lemkos, who live in the Western Carpathian Mountains in the deep south-east of Poland. Their lifestyle is hard and they are poor people, but they are fiercely proud of their Ukrainian roots. They celebrate their language and rich culture, and support the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, who also inhabit the Mountains, and fight for a free Ukraine.
BOOK REVIEW: Sliding on A Snow Stone by Andy Szpuk
A Moving Tale . . .
(Amazon US review by Juliana Mantooth)
‘A stark and moving biography of a Ukrainian who lived through the Holodomor or Ukrainian Holocaust where millions perished as a result of Stalin's custom-made famine and firing squads.
With amazing detail, Andy Szpuk transcribed the life of his father, born into a catastrophe he could little comprehend and his journey through unimaginable hardship which in many ways depicted the lives of many other fellow Ukrainians of that time. At times sweet, other times heartbreaking, even shocking, Sliding On The Snow Stone unveils through the eyes of a young boy, Stefan, the mindlessness and cruelty of war. As he trekked through neighbouring countries, first with his father, and later, alone, the reader experienced alongside Stefan the fear, anger and bitterness and despondency, the desperation of hunger and starvation.
The many little details captured by the author coloured the episodes and made the scenes come alive, allowing us readers to weep, groan and laugh alongside Stefan as he journeys through life. Reading this wonderful book leaves me with a profound experience, reminding me to count my blessings for what I have and the age I live in today.’
It is astonishing that anyone lived this story. It is even more astonishing that anyone survived it. Stefan grows up in the grip of a raging famine. Stalin’s Five Year Plan brings genocide to Ukraine – millions of people starve to death. To free themselves from the daily terrors of Soviet rule, Stefan and his friends fight imaginary battles in nearby woods to defend their land. The games they play are their only escape. ‘Sliding on the Snow Stone’ is the true story of Stefan's extraordinary journey across a landscape of hunger, fear and devastating loss. With Europe on the brink of World War Two, Stefan and his family pray they'll survive in their uncertain world. They long to be free.
With amazing detail, Andy Szpuk transcribed the life of his father, born into a catastrophe he could little comprehend and his journey through unimaginable hardship which in many ways depicted the lives of many other fellow Ukrainians of that time. At times sweet, other times heartbreaking, even shocking, Sliding On The Snow Stone unveils through the eyes of a young boy, Stefan, the mindlessness and cruelty of war. As he trekked through neighbouring countries, first with his father, and later, alone, the reader experienced alongside Stefan the fear, anger and bitterness and despondency, the desperation of hunger and starvation.
The many little details captured by the author coloured the episodes and made the scenes come alive, allowing us readers to weep, groan and laugh alongside Stefan as he journeys through life. Reading this wonderful book leaves me with a profound experience, reminding me to count my blessings for what I have and the age I live in today.’
It is astonishing that anyone lived this story. It is even more astonishing that anyone survived it. Stefan grows up in the grip of a raging famine. Stalin’s Five Year Plan brings genocide to Ukraine – millions of people starve to death. To free themselves from the daily terrors of Soviet rule, Stefan and his friends fight imaginary battles in nearby woods to defend their land. The games they play are their only escape. ‘Sliding on the Snow Stone’ is the true story of Stefan's extraordinary journey across a landscape of hunger, fear and devastating loss. With Europe on the brink of World War Two, Stefan and his family pray they'll survive in their uncertain world. They long to be free.
(In 1932-33, as part of their drive towards industrialisation, the Soviet Union demanded impossibly high requisitions of grain from rural areas in Ukraine. In a deliberate act of genocide, Ukrainian smallholdings were stripped of food, and the population began to perish, with some estimates as high as 10 million deaths, from starvation. In Ukraine, this atrocity became known as the Holodomor (death by hunger). The following years saw Soviet purges and terrors resulting in the elimination of academics and intellectuals, or of anyone who spoke out against Soviet rule. When World War Two arrived on Ukraine’s doorstep, many people viewed the Nazis as liberators – a view that was quickly proved wrong. ‘Sliding on the Snow Stone’ is Stefan’s personal account of a historical period drenched in the blood of a nation, and of his yearning for freedom.)
Carved into Crystalline Heights opens in 1938, with Mikhaylo, a smallholder whose wife has just given birth to a second daughter, Maria. Mikhaylo is desperate for a son and heir, and for a pair of strong arms to help him with the farming work. But he loves his wife Genya, and doesn’t wish for her to suffer the way their forefathers did, by having large families. Genya has six sisters and a brother.
PLUS...Join this blog and be in the running to win not one but TWO books written by your host..."Empty Chairs" and "Faint Echoes of Laughter"
Carved into Crystalline Heights opens in 1938, with Mikhaylo, a smallholder whose wife has just given birth to a second daughter, Maria. Mikhaylo is desperate for a son and heir, and for a pair of strong arms to help him with the farming work. But he loves his wife Genya, and doesn’t wish for her to suffer the way their forefathers did, by having large families. Genya has six sisters and a brother.
Across the horizon, a storm is brewing – a man-made storm of world war.
A year later, the Nazis invade, plunging the community deeper into poverty. The war years are tough, but the Lemkos survive, and they find their own heroes from that period.
Post-war, the Insurgent Army remains active, ambushing Polish and Russian Army patrols, and attacking anyone who is not Ukrainian. Still their goal is freedom for Ukraine, but they reach a crossroads when one of their men kills a decorated Polish General, and the Poles come looking for revenge . . .
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PLUS...Join this blog and be in the running to win not one but TWO books written by your host..."Empty Chairs" and "Faint Echoes of Laughter"
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