An epic novel exposing the ugliness of war and the beauty of hope The city of Kiev was bombed in Hitler’s blitzkrieg across the Soviet Union, but the constant siege was only the beginning for her citizens. In this sweeping historical saga, Kelli Stuart takes the reader on a captivating journey into the little–known history of Ukraine’s tragedies through the eyes of four compelling characters who … compelling characters who experience the same story from different perspectives.
Maria Ivanovna is only fourteen when the bombing begins and not much older when she is forced into work at a German labor camp. She must fight to survive and to make her way back to her beloved Ukraine.
Ivan Kyrilovich is falsely mistaken for a Jew and lined up with 34,000 other men, women, and children who are to be shot at the edge of Babi Yar, the “killing ditch.” He survives, but not without devastating consequences.
Luda is sixteen when German soldiers rape her. Now pregnant with the child of the enemy, she is abandoned by her father, alone, and in pain. She must learn to trust family and friends again and find her own strength in order to discover the redemption that awaits.
Frederick Hermann is sure in his knowledge that the F#65533;hrer’s plans for domination are right and just. He is driven to succeed by a desire to please a demanding father and by his own blind faith in the ideals of Nazism. Based on true stories gathered from fifteen years of research and interviews with Ukrainian World War II survivors, Like a River from Its Course is a story of love, war, heartache, forgiveness, and redemption.
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Rarely has a book left such an impact on me. I was fascinated with the characters, and marveled at their perseverance and unending hope. I’m drawn to WW2 fiction, as my mama grew up in Germany during WW2. She would have been drawn to tears reading this story.
This was my first time reading anything from Kelli Stuart. Thank you Kelli for the words you wrote were magical and helped me see a little more clearly what people endured during a horrific time in history.
This book covers several people – each getting a chapter. Maria Ivanovna is a 14 year old girl when she is taken to a German concentration camp. Ivan is mistaken for a jew and survives when over 30,000 others are killed. Luda is 16 years old and becomes pregnant from a rape from a German soldier. Her family abandons her when they find out, so she sets out on her own. Fredrick is a supporter of Hitler and lives to please his father who knows Hitler on a person level.
This novel is written based on true events, and at times, it is overwhelmingly depressing. Think…Angela’s Ashes. There is one dark turn after another in this book. But then, for some of the characters, the tide does turn. There are those who get the happy ending after a terrible ordeal. And I think that is what turned the book for me. And, to have a perspective from a Nazi and Hitler supporter right from the start, peaked my interest. You almost always read WWII novels from the POV of the victim or the heros of the war. Not as much from people who thought was Hitler was doing was right and just.
I would put this one on your list. I have read so many WWII books, and this was a good one. Don’t count it out.
Absolutely unputdownable! This haunting and moving story is expertly woven and grabs the reader from page 1. A little-known side to WWII. Incredible read.
This was a difficult book to read, let alone write. . . but so worth it! I read a chapter a night, riveted to the tragic stories of WW2 victims in the Ukraine. I had no knowledge of Babi Yar or other atrocities in this part of the world. What an eye opener! As I read, I felt compassion and companionship with the characters, as if they were family. Although war and its history can never come to a satisfying conclusion, “Like a River From its Course” ended in peace, hope and reconciliation.
Fiction is a vehicle for growing in empathy for and understanding of this world. The magic of fiction is its ability to draw in the reader, to coax him or her to put on the shoes of the characters and go for a walk in those shoes. In Like a River from Its Course, Kelli Stuart worked this magic. The terror of the novel is its glimpse into the potential for human evil. The beauty is the way in which people can be instruments of grace and mercy in the darkest of circumstances. Raw, vulnerable, horrifying, beautiful, and true, this novel is a mirror for us to gaze into, to see our potential for good or ill. It nudges us to choose the path of love for those in need, regardless of what it may cost. This is a novel I will not soon forget.