SUNFLOWERS UNDER FIRE by Diana Stevan. Island House Publishing, 2019.
Read & reviewed by Jane Mack, August 2022.
This family saga starts in August 1915 and ends in approximately late 1929. The mostly-true story of Lukia Mazuret, a Ukrainian woman of indomitable faith and strength, it focuses on family and survival in difficult times.
OPENING.
The story opens with Lukia alone at her farm in Livetsky, Ukraine, about to give birth. We learn she has already buried two children. Her husband Gregory is away, enlisting in the Tsar’s army to Lukia’s consternation. Her other children, Hania (the oldest, a girl), Egnat, Ivan, Michalko, and Havrylo are introduced to us a little at a time—Hania as a helpful, pretty pubescent girl; Egnat, Ivan, and Michalko as boys close enough in age to play and work together, but with different strengths and interests and age-related developments. Havrylo, the youngest boy is a toddler, and grows up closer to the baby born at the start, a girl named Eudokia.
LIFE AT HOME.
Ukraine lingers in the background of nearly every scene, as a character with powerful influence and uncertain motives and abilities. The rich agricultural lands, the beauty, the location all invite invaders in a struggle for control over Ukraine: invaders including Germany, Poland and Russia. The people within Ukraine align with each at various times against the others, depending which seems to promise the most independence or help to the people; who provides the greater threat; who aligns with their religion and culture.
Lukia, also known as Panye Mazurets (Mrs. Mazurets), speaks Ukrainian, Russian, Polish and Czech languages, but she can neither read nor write as she left school at a young age to help on her family’s farm. Now her family is spread out over Ukraine, with her brother and mother living in the Carpathian mountains, and a sister not too far away from Lutsk, the nearest large city to Lukia’s own farm. The family homestead is only five hectares and the sole support of their growing family.
With Gregory gone to war, Lukia acts as a single parent, sole provider, and defender of her children. Roving bands of soldiers pose a threat of rape and theft. The faltering economy, childish inattention, and unreliable weather increase the pressure on farm life. When the Russian soldiers come through and announce that the family must evacuate to unknown designation, with only what they can carry, Lukia trades on her good business sense to secure some money, a promise for reimbursement for crops left in the field, and chests full of all their valuables. The family watches as their house is torched.
LIFE AS A REFUGEE.
At each turn, Lukia prays. She has more confidence in God than in the civil authorities, but it is the civil authorities that seem to have more control over her family’s immediate destiny. She manages to beg for a train to the Caucuses rather than Siberia, and with her husband in the Tsar’s army, a space on the train, and a kindly official, her family is herded onto a cattle train that still smells of manure. The conditions are atrocious, the ride seemingly endless, and disease rampant. More troubles beset the family. There is an almost magical appearance of a healing angel-nurse.
Although they eventually arrive at their destination, the tents that will house the family provide shelter from wind and rain only and not from cold. Life is difficult. On the positive side, she collects on the debt owed for her crops. On the negative side, there is no known endpoint for the war. With the Bolsheviks challenging the tsar, the uncertainties grow exponentially. Fighting by the Cossaks, the Bolsheviks, the tsar’s men reaches into the areas surrounding them.
Life is hard enough without the threat of war; the constant encirclement of soldiers. Laundry in the river. Walking to market to use what little funds she has. Worrying over her children. Lukia is a mother and woman living each uncertain moment with all the grace and wisdom she can muster. Her sister-in-law asks her daughter Hania to be godmother to her child and Lukia accepts the blessing, only later to feel it was a mistake. Church doctrine does not permit godparents to marry, and her Hania has fallen in love with the young man who acted as godfather, Bohdan.
There are other tensions involving church and state that crop up over time, but none is more dramatic than the pressure and fear of violating this tenet.
RETURN.
Eventually the war is over and Lukia and the children return to Ukraine. Good news is that Gregory has survived; but he returns as a shell of the man he once was. Re-establishing life is starting over, older and more worn-out, with more responsibilities. The Mazurets need a new home. They need to get cows and horses. They need to start planting again. Every breath challenges survival or death.
As the story progresses, there is an overwhelming sense of fatalism. Lukia’s faith is tested again and again as she ponders why her family is cursed with so many obstacles, so many heartaches. And there are plenty more in store for her and her family. The family graveyard grows.
CRISIS AND RESOLUTION.
Ukraine, ever present as a character, is unable to provide the stability Lukia craves. There is no nurturing governance. Neighboring countries continue to lay claims, encroach, overwhelm. Lukia realizes it is only a matter of time before her sons are called to fight. She does not want to lose them. In the end, a chance conversation overheard leads her to grab at an opportunity like no other. Still, there are more obstacles thrown at her before she can claim her new life for herself and her children.
ANALYSIS AND OPINION.
The ever-present realness of this story made it impossible to put down. I just wanted to know what happened next and next and next. The story-telling itself is adequate, but not compelling. There was a burden of sadness and depression almost that kept settling about Panye Mazurets, and not very much that helped explain her resolve, her grit. Faith popped up occasionally, but never in such a way as to provide the clarity of motivation.
There is a moment in the story of reflection, where Lukia sees her daughter Hania’s conduct in comparison to her own youthful self. There are a few other times where Lukia has small insights into others. But generally, we get very little of the psychological insight. The final decision seems to crop up out of the blue and is at odds with the grip that Ukraine has on the overall narrative.
We also don’t get to see the final realization of Lukia’s choice. At least not in this novel. But the ending is satisfying. There is a moment when one of the minor antagonists in the overall story gets put in her place, made irrelevant by Lukia’s ability to rise above the obstacles.
FURTHER CONTENT.
The novel includes a glossary of Ukrainian terms that are used throughout the story. This adds to both the exotic flavor and the homey nature of the story. I would have liked a map as well.
There is a book discussion guide for those who want to read this at their book club!
CONCLUSION.
Overall, this is a story about rising above obstacles by sheer persistence and determination. The historical landscape provides both context and challenge. There is a lot here to celebrate and absorb.
RATING. **** (4 out of 5 stars)