THE ROOSTER HOUSE

A Ukrainian American journalist recounts the history of her Ukrainian family within the broader context of Russian aggression since the 1930s.

“I was born in Kyiv, but the first fifteen summers of my life unfolded in [Bereh] on the Vorksla River.” So writes Brussels-based journalist Belim in this poignant, gently unfolding tale. To her, the small village of Bereh was a “second home,” and her great-grandparents Asya and Sergiy were her “second set of parents.” Although she grew up in Chicago with her mother and stepfather, Belim pined for Bereh, yet she rarely visited—until 2014, when Russia seized Crimea and war broke out. Spurred by the rabid pro-Soviet stance of her uncle Vladimir, her father’s older brother, who goaded her with anti-Western propaganda, the author decided she needed to return to the Ukraine of her youth and reconnect with her aging grandmother Valentina, who lived in Kyiv but spent her summers in Bereh. The author writes movingly about helping Valentina with her cherry orchard and extensive garden and cooking traditional Ukrainian meals while weaving in painful memories of Soviet oppression—her relatives’ surviving the Holodomor of 1932-1933, when 4 million Ukrainian peasants died due to Stalin’s disastrous collectivization policy. Belim also writes about how, during the political purge of 1937, her uncle Nikodim inexplicably disappeared after being interrogated at the secret Soviet police headquarters called the Rooster House. “I thought of this uncle who had fought for a free Ukraine and who had paid the highest price as a kindred spirit,” she writes, “and I wanted to restore him to his rightful place in the family story.” While Valentina refused to revisit this haunting history, Belim was able to access Nikodim’s files and discover the truth. Throughout this powerful text, readers will encounter numerous satisfying layers.

An elegant family narrative of myriad characters traumatized by the deep-seated Russia-Ukrainian struggle.