{"product_id":"the-rooster-house-9780349017327","title":"The Rooster House","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ch3\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eA RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch3\u003e''\u003ci\u003eWild Swans\u003c\/i\u003e for Ukraine ... rich and magnificent'' \u003ci\u003eBookseller\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e''\u003c\/i\u003eA paean to hope and home. I loved it and it will haunt me'' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHELEN MACDONALD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Marvellously vivid and often heartbreaking... I read it in a single enthralled sitting''\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMIRANDA SEYMOUR\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''An instant classic: an essential book in these darkening times''\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSOPHY ROBERTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Compelling, beautifully written... an insight into the complexity of Ukraine''s history''\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMERIEL SCHINDLER\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the Ukrainian city of Poltava stands a building known as the Rooster House, an elegant mansion with two voluptuous red roosters flanking the door. It doesn''t look horrifying. And yet, when Victoria was a girl growing up in the 1980s, her great-grandmother would take pains to avoid walking past it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In 2014, while the Russian state was annexing Crimea, Victoria visited \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA moving personal journey unravelling complex family relationships, secrets and memories. Belim takes us into the homes of rural Ukrainians, illuminating their hopes, fears, struggles and traditions. Her love of the country and its people stands out in her sensitive depiction of their stoicism, hospitality and bonds... This is \u003cb\u003ean honest, insightful and \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003epassionate book, that provides a beautiful insight into a nation beyond war headlines\u003c\/b\u003e -- Tom Pilgrim * Independent *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSparkles with details of rural life and Soviet-inherited bureaucratic absurdity \u003c\/b\u003e... \u003cb\u003ea moving account of a still much-misunderstood country\u003c\/b\u003e, given extra poignancy by the disaster now unfolding * New Statesman *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEthereal and transporting ... Ukraine comes alive through a tapestry of multisensory descriptions. \u003c\/b\u003eBarbed by pain, this is a book as poignant as it is timely ... it reflects the indestructible strength of the Ukrainian people, who so fiercely hold on to hope * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eWild Swans\u003c\/i\u003e for Ukraine\u003c\/b\u003e ... an enthralling, multilayered family story, told across four generations. Rich and magnificent. A marvel * Bookseller *\u003cbr\u003ePart memoir, part detective story ... [this] picture of a divided Ukrainian family shows how deep the divisions can be - and how to heal them means overcoming decades of silence, secrecy and denial -- Blake Morrison * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEmotionally shattering yet utterly unputdownable\u003c\/b\u003e, Belim's search to find out what happened to her great-grandfather's brother in 1930s Ukraine is a haunting work of research and revelation * Waterstones *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA powerful memoir\u003c\/b\u003e... tells the story of Ukraine through the lens of her own family, from WWII occupation to Chernobyl - to the trauma of today * Irish Examiner *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA beautifully written evocation of the Ukrainian people\u003c\/b\u003e through the prism of four generations of one family, but it is also a celebration of Ukrainian women... evokes a Ukraine beyond the rubble-strewn images we see on the television news... \u003cb\u003ea truly redemptive book, strangely joyful even\u003c\/b\u003e, one that makes the tragedy of the Russian invasion personal * New European *\u003cbr\u003eUkraine comes alive through a tapestry of multisensory descriptions... Such descriptions are ethereal and transporting, but Belim balances them with a raw bluntness in her sketches of war and trauma... \u003cb\u003ea book as poignant as it is timely\u003c\/b\u003e... \u003cb\u003eit reflects the indestructible strength of the Ukrainian people\u003c\/b\u003e, who so fiercely hold on to hope -- Caroline Eden * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Rooster House\u003c\/i\u003e is so many things at once, and all of them pull at my heart. The book is a\u003cb\u003e seriously beautiful evocation of an imperilled nation and an account of a personal quest to retrieve the memories and secrets that families and states maintain\u003c\/b\u003e. It's a careful meditation on exile, on return and belonging, and what it means to be. And most of all it's \u003cb\u003ea paean to hope and home\u003c\/b\u003e, written with such gentleness and deep adherence to emotional truth that to me its words become a fierceness to cast against harm, hardship and hurt. I loved it and it will haunt me for a long time. * Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk *\u003cbr\u003eThe familiar village symbol of a rooster on the roof hides a dark secret in Victora Belim's \u003cb\u003emarvellously vivid and often heartbreaking \u003c\/b\u003eaccount of a personal quest, one that leads us deep into the complexities that lie behind news headlines while introducing us to an unforgettable group of characters. \u003cb\u003eI read it in a single enthralled sitting\u003c\/b\u003e * Miranda Seymour, author of I Used to Live Here Once: The Haunted Life of Jean Rhys *\u003cbr\u003eA haunting quest - beautifully told, with stunning momentum - travelling through place, history, and private memory on the fraying edge of Europe. \u003cb\u003eI loved this book: the voice, the determination, the pace, the characters, the insights into exile and belonging, into remembering and forgetting\u003c\/b\u003e. A book where the search for truth shines so brightly, \u003ci\u003eThe Rooster House \u003c\/i\u003efeels like\u003cb\u003e an instant classic\u003c\/b\u003e: an essential book in these darkening times. * Sophy Roberts, author of The Lost Pianos of Sibera *\u003cbr\u003eA compelling, beautifully written and researched family memoir that weaves together the personal and the political and gives the reader an insight into the complexity of Ukraine's history * Meriel Schindler, author of The Lost Cafe Schindler *\u003cbr\u003eA touching memoir about four generations of a Ukrainian family * The i, Best New Books for May *\u003cbr\u003e[A] poignant, gently unfolding . . . elegant family narrative of myriad characters traumatized by the deep-seated Russia-Ukrainian struggle. . . Throughout this powerful text, readers will encounter numerous satisfying layers * Kirkus, starred review *\u003cbr\u003eA captivating family memoir spanning four generations ... Belim blends the personal and the historical to tell a moving, century-long tale of fear, hardship and resilience * The i *\u003cbr\u003eVictoria Belim's poignant memoir unveils the Ukrainian roots of a family mystery. . . Belim's book, and her work with Ukrainian refugees in Brussels, \u003cb\u003ehonors Ukraine's vibrant culture and the resilience of its people\u003c\/b\u003e. . . The Rooster House is \u003cb\u003ean intimate, down-to-earth memoir\u003c\/b\u003e that reveals the corrosive effects of secrets and the healing power of truth * Foreword, starred review *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis magnificent memoir is hauntingly narrated by its author\u003c\/b\u003e who takes you through her family's turbulent past and the mystery of her great-great uncle Nikodim... This riveting audio tracks Belim's search for truth * Sunday Post *\u003cbr\u003eStunning... an expatriate Ukrainian returns in search of answers to modern and historical riddles in the packed earth of her bitterly disputed homeland * Strong Words *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47833038258519,"sku":"9780349017327","price":15.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780349017327.jpg?v=1710341069","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-rooster-house-9780349017327","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}