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Radio 4 Book of the Week

‘A beautiful insight into a nation beyond war headlines’ Independent

‘A 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

‘Wild swans for Ukraine… an enthralling, multilayered family story, told across four generations. Rich and magnificent. A marvel’ Bookseller

In 2014, while the Russian state was annexing Crimea, Victoria Belim came across her great-grandfather’s diary, one page scored deep with the single line: ‘Brother Nikodim, vanished in the 1930s fighting for a free Ukraine.’ She had never heard of this uncle and no one – especially her grandmother – seemed willing to tell her about him.

Victoria became obsessed with recovering his story. In the end, her winding search took her back to the place she had always known it would – to the Rooster House, an elegant mansion in the Ukrainian city of Poltava with two voluptuous red roosters flanking the door, and dark truths contained in its basement.