How can I tell you about Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch book Kidnapped from Ukraine without spoilers?
Initially, the action takes place in Mariupol on the first day of the war. Through the characters, the writer moves events in the order in which they occur.
The plot is dynamic, even when people hide in a stinking basement for weeks. There is constant action. The story is told by 12-year-old Dariia. The events are revealed through dialogues. There are few descriptions in the book, but you imagine things while you read quite graphically.
The horrors of Mariupol, which we learned about from the news, are described here through a series of characters. Hunger, cold, unsanitary conditions, deaths, bomb shelters, missiles, drones, hitting a maternity hospital, Azovstal…
Furthermore, the characters and the reader go through the self-evacuation and filtration. Beatings, nakedness, humiliation, unknown future, separation. As if Christ’s path to Calvary.
With a child kidnapped by Russia, we find ourselves on a bus. And after then in a place that the character herself more than once calls a children’s prison. Intimidation, propaganda, Soviet-style attitude… And then child slavery, which is called adoption.
We see the inside life of a family near Moscow. Their views on life, on Ukraine, on the war. Their values, or lack thereof.
The internal change that took place in the Russian-teenage boy was surprising.
Through conversations, the author weaved in other events of this great war: the horrors of Bucha, the Crimean bridge, the sunken ship, etc.
I did not know that the Russian Federation issues passports to children under 16. The author wrote this story based on real facts and testimonies.
The novel shows the power of friendship, family, unity, devotion to the truth, endurance, thirst for life and victory.
Be prepared to grieve. What some Ukrainian children are going through cannot fully fit into the head and heart.