Historical Fiction Ukraine

In late March 1944, as Stalin’s forces push into Ukraine, young Emil and Adeline Martel must make a terrible decision: Do they wait for the Soviet bear’s intrusion and risk being sent to Siberia? Or do they reluctantly follow the wolves—murderous Nazi officers who have pledged to protect “pure-blood” Germans? The Martels are one of many families of German heritage whose ancestors have farmed in Ukraine for more than a century.

Anna stopped counting the times she fell. Now she would take a stand... Anna Onisko has grown up under the shadow of her tyrannical stepfather. Now in her teens she is determined to escape him and fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher. But this is Uzhhorod, Czechoslovakia, the year is 1938 and the Hungarian occupation is about to tear Anna's life apart. Through wartime dangers and family betrayal, Anna has to find the strength to make impossible choices and protect those she loves even if it means sacrificing everything she cares about. Based on the true story of a woman of courage.

Summer 1941. War rages in Europe. The Germans march towards Ukraine. Halya, Liliya and Vika are no strangers to sorrow. They lost family during the Holodomor, loved ones in Stalin's purges, and war looms once more on the horizon. These daughters of Ukraine will face devastation and loss as they fight to survive and protect the ones they love.

The book Bridge in the Darkness, written by Artur Drazek, is a novel based on a true-life story. It’s inspired by the Russian invasion of Ukraine at end of February 2022. As a kid, Alex had long accepted the fact that his life wouldn’t be like other kids his age. Born with a heart condition, he wouldn’t be able to do most things men his age would be able to do; he tried rebelling, but there was very little he could do to change his heart condition. Without another option, he began to slowly adapt to life with his condition; however, he would come to realize that he had been living in ...

It will soon be another cold winter in the Ukraine. But it's 1941, and things are different this year. Max, the devoted caretaker of an animal preserve, must learn to live with the Nazis who have overtaken this precious land. He must also learn to keep secrets - for there is a girl, Kalinka, who is hiding in the park.

They were promised a three-day war. A victory parade in Kyiv. Flowers thrown at the feet of liberators. But for the men of the 64-kilometer-long convoy, the road to glory has become a frozen river of mud and steel. For Captain Dmitri Volkov, a logistics officer, the war is not a battle of heroes, but a grim equation of dwindling fuel, failing equipment, and timetables that have become a grotesque joke. His logbook, once a sanctuary of order, is now the meticulous record of a slow, grinding descent into hell. As days bleed into weeks, the Zampolit’s patriotic speeches fade into the howl of...

Ukraine, 1940. When war rips their country apart, Julia is sent away by her tearful parents in the dead of night, clutching her mother’s necklace and longing for one last embrace. But soon she is captured by Nazi soldiers and forced into a German labor camp, where behind a tall fence topped with cruel barbed wire, she has never felt more alone. Just as she begins to give up on all hope, Julia meets Henry, a young man from her village who shares her heart full of dreams.

When tyranny tightens its grip, ordinary people rise up. Maidan Revolution is a searing work of historical fiction inspired by the real-life events of Ukraine’s 2013–2014 Revolution of Dignity. Set during one of the most explosive uprisings in modern European history, this powerful novella follows a disillusioned American war photographer who returns to Kyiv—a city he once loved—only to be swept into the firestorm of a nation’s fight for freedom. Through the lens of his camera, he documents more than just conflict—he captures courage, sacrifice, and a people’s refusal to be ...

Charlie Epson pulls his oars against the tides every morning in a silent contest with his past. He is among a very special cohort monitored within the Angel Landing Yacht Club; those whose career misadventures in public service exposed them to matters never to be shared. Yes, this group needs to drink a lot, but like their glasses filled to the brim, they are permitted good conversation without spilling. When an old colleague winds up in the bay with a broken neck and former Soviet assassins arrive looking for laundered Ukrainian funds to help their war effort, Bjorn Ingman and Mark Jamison...

Life after the State Department was supposed to be a peaceful respite for Mike Lacondeguy, but an unlikely friend and the Russian mob surfaced with other plans. In FISHING WITH TOLSTOY, the exhilarating introduction to The New Americans trilogy, ex-diplomat Mike Lacondeguy snaps out of his retirement blues and into a world of deception and betrayal. This time, the fight is on his turf. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine draws two Cold War adversaries back into the game to stop the hostilities from escalating. Mike worked with the State Department for three decades in and around Russia, while ...

A historical romance depicting the life and system of government of the people in the Carpathian region of Ukraine during the 13th century, at the time of the Mongol invasion. Includes a brief outline of Ukrainian history.

Kiev. 1942. Larissa is a renowned embroiderer, surviving in occupied Ukraine as a seamstress in her ruin of a workshop. When an SS officer arrives to order a traditionally embroidered Ukrainian shirt, Larissa uses the opportunity to create a piece of art from her handiwork. Threading together the history and the horrors between the two enemies, she finds a way to express her defiance toward the Nazis and the local collaborators. But at what price? Prepare yourself for an unforgettable journey behind the Second World War’s eastern front.

Life is becoming ever more terrifying for the Jewish community as the Second World War envelops their lives. For twelve-year-old Dina and her sisters, things get even harder when their father dies. Their mother must go back to work and despite many objections, the family adjusts to the arrival of their new housekeeper, Nina, who is not Jewish. But Nina’s role changes dramatically when the Nazis invade their small Ukrainian town.

Eric and Abby travel from California to Ukraine to pick up Jillian, born via surrogacy, when Russia attacks and they are forced to flee. It is the middle of the COVID pandemic in the frigid temperatures of winter as they escape the horrors of war with an infant and little else.

Ukraine, 1941. War has ripped Katya’s country and heart in two. When two soldiers knock down her door and force her into a truck, she knows deep down that this might be the last time she ever sees home. As she is driven away to a labor camp, she looks out the tiny window at the barren winter landscape and thinks only of her son, Alexander, who she was forced to leave behind and may never see again.

The three tales in this audiobook are adapted from stories told by the peasants in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. They are drawn from some books I found in shops when I visited the former USSR in 1988 as part of a citizen diplomacy group. I was intrigued by these folktales, since my paternal grandmother lived for some time in Odessa in the Ukraine. Also, I found these stories share a common theme - the poor peasant is able to succeed despite obstacles against an unfair ruler.

I 1920’ernes Berlin forelsker teaterinstruktøren Detlef Sierck sig i skuespillerinden Lydia. Tiden er præget af nazismens fremmarch og da Detlef begynder at bevæge sig fra teatret til filmen, kommer han i kontakt med nazitoppen. Detlef indleder en affære med den jødiske skuespillerinde Hilde. Sammen flygter de via Rom og Schweiz til USA og i Hollywood begynder Detlef et nyt liv som Douglas Sirk og fejrer store triumfer som 50’ernes technicolor-film. Ikke mindst da han introducerer den unge Rock Hudson på det store lærred.

Matschuchy, Ukraine, 1933: Die junge Jawdocha versucht verzweifelt, sich und ihre Familie am Leben zu halten – doch der Hunger setzt nicht nur ihren Körpern zu, sondern immer mehr Menschen in ihrer unmittelbaren Umgebung greifen zu verzweifelten, unmenschlichen Maßnahmen im Kampf um das nackte Überleben.

1929. Behütet und geliebt wächst Katja in einem Dorf bei Kiew auf. Ihre Familie ist nicht reich, kann sich aber von ihrer eigenen Hände Arbeit ernähren. Bis Stalins Handlanger die Dorfbewohner zwingen, dem Kollektiv beizutreten. Wer sich weigert, wird mitgenommen und nie wieder gesehen. Anfangs gibt es für Katja dennoch auch glückliche Stunden. Sie ist in den Nachbarssohn verliebt und ihre Schwester in dessen Bruder. Doch schon bald muss Katja sich jeden Tag Mut zusprechen, um weiterzumachen angesichts des Schreckens um sie herum.

1963. In a desolate Russian penal colony, the radio broadcasts news of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vasin's new posting as director of a gulag camp in the middle of the frozen tundra is far from a promotion. This is where disgraced agents, like Vasin, disappear - sent to die forgotten. And quietly. But tensions in the camp are running high and when a violent revolt breaks out, Vasin finds himself on the run. With him is a mysterious prisoner - who holds the key to the most dangerous secret in the world: who ordered Kennedy's murder.