Under This Unbroken Sky

Great. Little House on the Prairies, for grown ups. Used a great device, right at the beginning of the book. She described a family photo taken in 1933, and said that 5 years later, one would be dead, and two of which there was no picture, would be murdered. The book then starts 5 years later. So you are wondering the entire time who and when the characters were going to die. It pulls you along through the entire book. You are waiting — is it now? — at every point in which you could imagine a death happening, whether because of a minor event such as the kids playing in the lake, or because of the disasters they face, like the wildfire racing through land. I read the entire book in one night. ( )

Great. Little House on the Prairies, for grown ups. Used a great device, right at the beginning of the book. She described a family photo taken in 1933, and said that 5 years later, one would be dead, and two of which there was no picture, would be murdered. The book then starts 5 years later. So you are wondering the entire time who and when the characters were going to die. It pulls you along through the entire book. You are waiting — is it now? — at every point in which you could imagine a death happening, whether because of a minor event such as the kids playing in the lake, or because of the disasters they face, like the wildfire racing through land. I read the entire book in one night. ( )

Historical novel set in Canada's northern prairies in the late 1930s. Ukrainian immigrants Teodor Mykolayenko, his wife Maria and their five children have escaped the oppression of Stalin's Soviet Union and settled on a homestead in western Canada. Having served a two-year sentence for stealing grain that belonged to him, Teodor returns to his family, which includes his sister Anna and her two children, and with demonic resolution sets out to clear the land and ensure his family's future in this harsh and perplexing country. Entering the picture once the work is done is Stefan, Anna's arrogant and deceitful husband, and there ensues a power struggle between the two men which divides the family and leads to the novel's violent and tragic conclusion. Mitchell's prose shimmers like the ice hanging from the trees in the timeless landscape that she brings expertly to life. The landscape and weather hover sullenly over the narrative, generating great tension and foreboding. An accomplished and utterly absorbing novel. Winner of a Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Thomas H. Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize. ( )

A really excellent and beautifully written novel by a self professed "East Coast Prairie girl." I couldn't put this down, and I can't wait to read her next offering. I'd love to see what she can do with a Maritime setting. ( )

This is the story of two Ukrainian families trying to establish a new life as farmers in the Canadian prairies during the 1930s. As the story opens, Teodor is just returning home to his wife Maria and five children after spending a year in prison for trying to hold back some seed for the following year's crop. Maria and the children live with Teodor's sister, Anna and her two children. Anna's husband Stephan is sometimes home, but (thankfully) mostly not.

The story that unfolds is tragic beyond the ongoing hardships of breaking in new land and trying to farm and survive on the prairies during winter blizzards and summer fires. This is not a happy book.

It is, however, a very good book. Great story, with descriptions that put the reader right in the situations with the characters. Every charcter is richly developed. The writing is very strong. Definitely recommended. ( )