Through Bullets and Thunderstorms

About the Book:

Through Bullets and Thunderstorms is a historical fiction novel that reads like a dystopian horror book and is inspired by her true story. It follows Maria, an 18-year-old Ukrainian Jewish girl living through the Holocaust.

Devastated by the mass executions in her Ukrainian home town, she runs to the river intending to end her life. What she didn't count on, was finding another girl with the exact same plan.

What followed was essentially a comedy of errors: Maria, who was incredibly short and couldn't swim, jumped into the river yelling at the girl to stop-only to immediately start drowning herself. And so, the other girl had to rescue Maria, and pull her out of the water. And just like that, soaked, coughing and shivering, the two girls made a pact to survive together. 

This chance encounter became the foundation of a powerful story about sisterhood, resilience, and finding hope even in the bleakest of times.

A Note From the Author

I have wanted to share my grandmother's story since I was a small child. All four of my grandparents were Holocaust survivors. There are many reasons why I wanted to write this book: to share my grandmother's story, to give a voice to the millions of people who died in Ukraine, and to address the growing issue of antisemitism.

I've found that outside of Ukraine, most people don't know about the mass murders, the famine (the Holodomor), and the torture that Ukrainian people endured. I've also found that most people don't know about the Ostarbeiter, the forced enslavement of Ukrainian people during WWII. Many people don't know about the Babin Yar massacre, as well as many other massacres that took place in Ukraine. 

As this book is being released, my home country of Ukraine enters its third year of bravely fighting off the horrific invasion from Russia. I've seen a tremendous amounts of parallels between what my grandparents experienced during WWII and what the people of Ukraine continue to go through. The spirit of Ukrainian people, the kindness so many of them showed during WWII (by risking their lives to hide Jewish people), and also the incredible courage that they show today, is truly unmatched. It is my dream that we will someday live in the world where we will not have to hide our identities, and where we will all be able to love and care for one another. 

And above all, may there be peace.