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| When Sorrows Come |
Throughout April I have invited 26 authors who had been selected as Editor's Choice
by the Historical Novel Society Indie Reviews
to help me out with the 2016 A-Z Blog Challenge...
Except to be a little different I interviewed
their leading Character/s...
Today's Character is
from :
HH:
Hello! I believe you exist in Maria Dziedzan’s novel – what is the title of the
book, and would you like to introduce yourself – who you are, what you do, etc?
Anna: Dobriy den! I am
the sixteen year old heroine of “When Sorrows Come”, or at least, that’s how
old I am at the beginning of the story. I am also simply a housemaid to a
Polish squire in the first chapter of the story. But the Russians soon put paid
to that job when they barge into our village and I find myself working on the
kolhoz with the other villagers.
HH:
When and where are you? Are you a real historical person or did your author
create you?
Anna: I live in
Halychyna, a beautiful region of Western Ukraine and it is beautiful even when
the Russians come in 1939 and when they are driven out by the Nazis in 1941.
They have a terrible battle for our village in 1943 and between them manage to
destroy many of our homes. But we survive! Even when the NKVD come back to
terrorise us.
Did Maria create me?
Yes and no…
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| The Village |
HH:
How did your author meet up with you?
Anna: We met in the
summer of 2006 when Maria came to my village for the first time with her
father. He was a very old friend of mine. And by then, I was a very old lady. A
bit unsteady on my feet, if you know what I mean. We were introduced outside my
tiny cottage and I suspect her father told her a bit about my wartime
activities with the partisans. But she also gave me a family, friends, and best
of all, my lover, Petro. And she made him so handsome!
HH:
What is the novel you feature in about?
Anna: Well, as I’ve
said, our village was overrun by one group of bullies after another. The
Bolsheviks and the Nazis. We had to outwit them to survive…and when we couldn’t
do that, we had to endure. So it is a terrifying war story, but there is a love
story too. I can’t tell you more – it would spoil the surprises!
HH:
Tell me about one or two of the other characters who feature with you.
Anna: I’ve mentioned my
beloved Petro… But there are the girls. The breathtakingly selfish Sofia and my
best friend, Vera, who also has her heart broken.The selfless Marusia who hides
her Jewish friend, Rachel.
It is difficult to say who is the nastiest man
– there are several - but Zadyrak, a Communist bully of the first order, takes
some beating.
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| Beside the Dniester |
HH:
What is your favourite scene in the book?
Anna: That is a really
difficult question. There are some harrowing moments – you might guess that
from the title – but there are tender moments, too. I think Maria’s favourite
might be when Marusia and Rachel were trying to escape from the Germans at
night and they were rescued by a completely unexpected character…but you’ll
have to read the story to find out who it was!
HH:
What is your least favourite?
Anna: After I am
captured, Maria put me through some terrible ordeals. I know because I made her
cry…
HH:
What are you most proud of about your author?
Anna: That she always
wanted to be a writer and she became one in her 60’s. Never give up the dream!
HH:
Has your author written other books about you? If not, about other characters?
How do you feel about your author going off with someone else?
Anna: No, she hasn’t
written about me but she has written about some of the people I know. She takes
them off on other adventures – perhaps the word “adventures” is wrong though as
it’s still wartime. She has a new heroine but I don’t mind. It’s another part
of our history which is little known in the West.
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| The river valley |
Anna: That’s another
difficult question, Helen! But perhaps, I would like to ride across the plains
with the Cossacks. I’d have to pretend not to be a girl, though. They left the
women at home when they went on the rampage!
Thank you Anna - and Maria
For readers, you can buy the book here:
or find out more here :
website mariadziedzanauthor.com
facebook page entitled When Sorrows Come.
Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com
Here is the company we will be
keeping on this
A-Z Blog Challenge!
APRIL
A 1st Friday
- Aurelia - Alison Morton
B 2nd Saturday - Bloodie Bones - Lucienne Boyce
C 4th
Monday - Man in the Canary Waistcoat Susan Grossey
D 5th
Tuesday - Dubh-Linn - James Nelson
E 6th
Wednesday - Evergreen In Red And White - Steven Kay
F 7th
Thursday - Fortune’sFool- David Blixt
G 8th
Friday - Gift For The Magus - Linda Proud
H 9th
Saturday - The Love Letter of John Henry Holliday) - Mary Fancher
I 11th
Monday - In Liberty’s Wake - Alexandra Norland
J 12th
Tuesday - Jacobites' Apprentice - Dave McCall
K 13th
Wednesday - Khamsin- Inge Borg
L 14th
Thursday - Luck Bringer - Nick Brown
M 15th
Friday - Murder at Cirey - Cheryl Sawyer
O 18th
Monday - Out
Of Time - Loretta Livingstone
P 19th
Tuesday - Pirate Code - Helen Hollick
Q 20th
Wednesday - To Be A Queen – Annie Whitehead
R 21st
Thursday - The Spirit Room - Marschel Paul
S 22nd
Friday - Sower Of The Seeds Of Dreams - Bill Page
T 23rd
Saturday -Tristan & Iseult - Jane Dixon Smith
U 25th
Monday - A Just And Upright Man - John Lynch
V 26th
Tuesday - Victoria Blake – Far Away
W 27th
Wednesday - WhenSorrows Come - Maria Dziedzan
X 28th
Thursday – The FlaX flower – AmandaMaclean
Y 29th
Friday - Young, Josa - Sail upon The Land
Z 30th
Saturday OZgur Sahin The Wrath of Brotherhood
So call back tomorrow
To meet the next exciting Character!
(unless it is Sunday - in which case, I'll have something different
but just as interesting !)
but just as interesting !)
I love the idea of riding across the plains with the Cossacks! You wouldn't want to be left at home when that was going on. Was that village also where your father was born? Or did he come from another part of Ukraine or Poland?
ReplyDeleteAnd riding on sturdy ponies :-) - sounds fun, but probably wasn't!LOL
DeleteI always think I've not got much time for reading these days - and then up pops the second one that I've read in two days. Victoria's yesterday, and now this. In fact, we met, briefly, last year, Maria. At the Gedling Book Festival, I think. Bought the book there, if I remember correctly. And loved it too! There were some very clever scenes involving the NKVD and I wondered, at the time, where you did your research for those? Despite the number of books and movies in which the NKVD are bandied about, it's still quite difficult, isn't it, to get detailed information?
ReplyDeleteAnna, your Ukrainian village must have been so beautiful and peaceful lying there on the Dniester.
ReplyDeleteI was lucky enough to stay in Kiev for a few days in 1963 (yes, my embassy and the Russians allowed me to fly but not to take the train). I even swam in the large Dnjepr before flying on to Sochi.
"When Sorrow Comes" is surely a heart-wrenching story as the destruction of one of the most fertile lands continues.
Inge, the village is quite peaceful today, but the battle scene which took place between the Red Army and the Nazis really happened below my father's village. You can still see the tank track today which the Germans created especially so that they could attack the Russian flanks.
DeleteThank you, David, both for reading the book and for your comments. If you go to my website mariadziedzanauthor.com you'll be able to see a full bibliography. I did read a lot when writing When Sorrows Come, and then too I had access to oral histories. The one thing you can rely on though is that the NKVD were truly as wicked as painted!
ReplyDeleteVictoria, my father was born in Halychyna which is closer to the Carpathians Mountains. I'm drawn to the romance of the Cossacks though and riding across the steppes must be amazing!
ReplyDeleteA heartbreaking book, Maria. I read it when it was shortlisted and guessed it would make it through to the final, so, many congratulations for that, and good luck.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Loretta! Really kind comments.
DeleteHi Maria, they always advise you to write the novel that only you can write: you've certainly done that, and I like the suitably long bibliography, and the fact you've had access to oral history. Respect. I am intrigued and will check this one out. Good luck with it.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Steven. When Sorrows Come does cover some of the untold stories from Eastern Europe. Sadly, there is a universality about the misery one group of people can impose on another, but I did have a strong emotional connection to the subject matter. As I do to the second novel I'm currently polishing for publication!
ReplyDeleteGreat title, and great cover - I'm looking forward to seeing the inside! Ukraine has been in the news in the last few years for similar reasons - do you have any plans to write about more recent events in Ukraine? Or will it be Cossacks next?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Amanda. Lots of readers have commented that reading When Sorrows Come has helped them to contextualise the current situation. The novel I have just finished is partly set in the Second World War...I can't say much more than that yet, although it's almost ready for publication and I do have plans to look at both the Cold War and contemporary Ukraine. It's. Fertile subject!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Maria, on what sounds like a very powerful novel! Good luck in the finals!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cheryl. I hope you might enjoy reading When Sorrows Come. I know some readers have found it very upsetting but life in Western Ukraine at the time was horrific!
ReplyDelete