Fiction/Historical fiction

A story of love, loss, and hope inspired by the author’s family immigration history. Lilia and Myk, young Ukrainian peasants living beside the Dniester River, hope for a better life for themselves and their two small children. Myk, swept up by promises of a farm and wealth in Canada, departs without them in spring 1914, just months before WW1 erupts. Lilia, along with her two small children, must weather wartime without him, spending years in war camps. Nine years later, the government of Canada attempts to reunite Ukrainian families. Will Lilia and Myk find each other again? Will their love and commitment endure?

Canada needed immigrants…but did they really want them?

Through use of real historical events, Heart Stones reveals the hardships that Ukrainians endured in making Canada their new home.

My novel took six years to research and two years to write. I finished my manuscript just weeks before recent political events in Ukraine.