Assessment:
Plot/Idea: Oksana and her best friend, Anya, want nothing more than for their sun-filled, hazy adventures in their small Ukrainian village to continue—but all they’ve ever known is uprooted when Joseph Stalin’s troops arrive, taking over Oksana’s family farm, arresting her father, and creating a deep divide among the people in their town. The plot is fast-paced, while still portraying the daily life that Oksana’s village values so much, and Cole interjects meaningful socio-cultural context throughout.
Prose: The prose is convincing and historically sound, skillfully evoking the tone and ambiance of the story’s setting. Cole instills hope for a safer, brighter future in both her characters and readers with every word.
Originality: Cole’s main character, Oksana, is a strong, touching lead, who undergoes a significant transformation and becomes an unexpected leader for her family, friends, and people. Her appeal lends the novel depth and increases its originality.
Character/Execution: Cole paints a deeply moving portrait of a nation overtaken by an enemy intent on stealing—and destroying—their way of life. Secondary characters are given breathtaking interiority, allowing them supportive but equally meaningful roles to the main players.
Date Submitted: May 09, 2024
Cole sparkles in this meticulously researched young adult novel, her first foray into historical fiction, about a Soviet/Ukrainian clash at the hands of the feared Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. In spring 1931, 13-year-old Oksana Kovalenko is loving life in her Ukrainian village, working the family farm with her parents and older brother Peter and spending as much time as she can with her best friend, Anya. A chill runs through the village when Stalin’s army invades the tiny town, forcefully steal farms and systemically starve the villagers. As former friends betray each other to receive tiny portions of food, morale plummets—but so does the quiet heroism of resistance. Cole evokes this fraught, frightening era with an eye for the telling detail, especially the “traditions and simple way of life” in Oksana’s village and how the Bolsheviks trample them. Historical context never slows the narrative, however, and Cole’s inventions, especially her characters’ choices and desires, make the past feel urgent for contemporary readers as they become engrossed by the injustices meted out by the cruel Soviet regime and its intense effort to erase Ukrainian culture. She also aptly demonstrates how war and persecution can drive difficult decisions, especially when Oksana’s friend Anya and her father Grigori join Stalin’s organizations in an effort to survive the conflict and not go hungry, even when Grigori plays a part in arresting Mikhail, Oksana’s father.
When Cole recounts the persecution and torture of Mikhail, and Dymitro, the town’s elderly baker, the unflinching details can be hard to stomach, and readers will feel the ache of hunger and despair right along with the characters. The story is all the more poignant given the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. While this expertly crafted tale may be geared for a younger audience, readers of any age should take Cole’s wise points to heart.
Takeaway: Heart-wrenching, meticulously researched tale about the Ukrainian Holodomor.
Comparable Titles: Erin Litteken's The Memory Keeper of Kyiv, Katherine Marsh's The Lost Year.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
“A Grain of Hope presents a solid fictionalized account of one family's life within a carefully researched historical setting. This dual nature allows it to appeal to young readers as an adventure book, with the unusual feature of having a female main character, and to educate them about the history of the Holodomor in Ukraine during the early 1930s.” Dr. J. Otto Pohl, historian and author of The Years of Great Silence
