Andrea White: Radiant Girl

A little over a year later—on August 24, 1991—the Ukraine broke away from the Soviet Union. With hindsight, it seems apparent that the government’s lies about the Chernobyl disaster played a key role in my country’s independence.

Although Ukraine’s road to democracy has been marked by struggle, my countrymen know that we can withstand hard times, because we always have. Our national anthem, entitled She Ne Vmerla Ukrayina , “Ukraine is yet alive,” reflects our perseverance through suffering.

On December 15, 2000, the President of the Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma, shut down Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station forever. American President Bill Clinton called this event, “a triumph for the common good.” He added, Slava Ukrayini , Glory to Ukraine.

Papa died just two months later. He was forty-two. We weren’t allowed to bury him with Granny Vera in Pripyat, so he rests in the new modern cemetery in Slavutich. I visit his grave often. When I drape strings of pink and red plastic flowers over his headstone, I can’t help wondering if Papa and Granny Vera are together now.

Just as we decorated Granny Vera’s grave, we put Papa’s photo on his. After Papa returned from his operation, Mama bought a new camera and snapped his picture. He is dressed in his gym clothes and sitting on our red Moped. He remains my hero.

Slava Ukrayini .

Thanks so much to the House of Fiction, including Iris, Tuck, Leslie and Macey.

Shirley Redwine, I am still mourning the Chief’s death. Gabrielle Hale, a gifted storyteller. Kat Hunter, a provocative short-story writer, who needs a new non-leaky pen. Brenda Liebling-Goldberg, the female Woody Allen. Georgiana Nelson, master of suspense. Lucie Smith, creator of the incomparable Sue Ann. Angelique Jamail, teller of magical fairy tales. Kala Dunn, the next Flannery O’Connor. Mimi Swartz, a natural. Sarah Warburton, beautiful stories written under the trying circumstances of motherhood.

You guys are such amazing writers, and I miss our laughter.

Most of all, thank you to Justin Cronin, without whom this book could never have been written. I have looked for a teacher all of my writing life, and for a brief time I was lucky to have found the very best. (P.S. Thanks for the titles of both of my last books.)

Lucy Chambers, you are a brilliant editor. Thank you for researching Ukrainian folklore and coming up with the domovyk . You may be the only editor in the world who sends happy, upbeat emails. Rue Judd, I will be forever glad that Talmage Boston introduced us. Ellen Cregan, thank you for your wonderful design; and Elaine Atkinson, for your wonderful illustrations. Nora Shire, is there anything you can’t do?

To my young readers: Sallie and Alice Chambers, Iris Cronin, Ryan Friedman, Caroline Craddock, Courtney Fontaine, Kristina Chubanova, Chas, Lauren and Jackson Jhin, Franci Williams, Katie Kellner, Marissa and Daniel Leebron, Sam Foshee, Caroline Clutterbuck, Victor Harter, and my own great kids, Elena, Will and Stephen, you guys are the best.

Pam Rosenauer and Quyen Le, I am so grateful to you for always coming through for me. Thank you to Tetyana Keeble and Olena Volkovicher for reading this book, for your many comments and your enthusiasm. I really couldn’t have finished the book without Tetyana. You and your BlackBerry were a godsend.

Speaking of people I couldn’t do without—Bill, thank you for your cheerful support of my writing time.

Bud Frick, Nancy and Scott Atlas, Nancy Beren, Joanne Herring, Donna Vallone, Dr. Denton Cooley, Kitty Rabinow, B.A. Bentsen, Shafik Rifaat, Carrin Patman, Stanford and Joan Alexander, and Zeina Fares, every writer should have friends like you. Franci Crane, Sis Johnson, Michael Zilkha and Elena Marks, thank you for reading my drafts. Lorraine Wulfe, The River, Literacy Advance, Jonathan Sandys, Suzie and Phil Conway, Courtney and Christopher Sarofim, Gary and Andrea Lynn, and Marsha Kushner, St. John’s classes of McNair Johnson, and Carolyn Bell—Thank you for making my last book, Window Boy , so much fun.

Thank you also to Oksana Strashna, Kateryna Zhuravska, Natalie A. Jaresko, Irina Trilevich, Natasha Bleyzer, Debbie Hartman, and the late Rimma Kyselytsia, my wonderful Ukrainian guide. Gail Brown, you are always so helpful and resourceful, and I am grateful.

The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge the following publishers for permission to reprint text from the copyrighted material listed below. Quotations are cited using the abbreviations listed before each work.

Reference Books:

JC: Journey to Chernobyl: Encounters in a Radioactive Zone , Glenn Alan Cheney (Academy Chicago Publishers, 1995)

TAC: The Truth About Chernobyl , Grigori Medvedev (New York, Perseus Books Group, 1991)

WF: Reprinted with permission from Wormwood Forest, A Natural History of Chernobyl by Mary Mycio, copyright 2005, (Joseph Henry Press, Washington, D.C.)

VC: Permission to use the excerpts from Voices from Chernobyl was granted by Dalkey Archive Press, Champagne, IL., copyright 1997 Svetlana Alexievich

ABL: ABLAZE, The Story of the Heroes and Victims of Chernobyl , Piers Paul Read (New York, Random House, 1993)

Ukraine, The Bradt Travel Guide , Andrew Evans, (Guilford, CT, The Globe Pequot Press Inc., USA 2005)

One of the best parts of writing this book was learning about another culture. Here’s a glossary of terms which may be unfamiliar.

Biological robots – Men and women who cleaned up the power plant grounds after the explosion and carried nuclear fuel to trucks. Robotic machines were used at first, but the high radiation damaged the electronics. Sometimes these workers took in so much radiation that their muscles separated from their bones. Doctors were forbidden to tell them why.

Chertneya – The little devil.

Chernozem – Black Earth is Ukraine’s black-colored, highly-fertile soil which produces high agriculture yield

Communist Party – Name of the political party of the USSR.

Comrade – Friend or ally.

Dead Zone – Also called Zone of Alienation, this area has a radius of 30 kilometers (19-mile) and still has radioactive contamination.

Domovyk – A house elf is part of folklore. It protects the house from evil and trouble and alerts the family or a specific individual to impending danger. The elves are known to play tricks on people.

S dnem narodzhennya – Happy Birthday.

ENDEARING AND POLITE TERMS:

Babuska – A Russian word for grandmother or old lady.

Donechka – My little girl.

Kohana – Sweetheart.

Laskavo prosimo – Thank you.

Stariy druzhe – My dear friend.

FOOD:

Borsch – Vegetable soup with cabbage, beetroot and tomato.

Horilka – Alcoholic beverage.

Kutia – Traditional Christmas dish made with poppy seeds, wheat nuts and honey.

Paska loaf – Easter bread.

Salo – Salted and spiced pig fat.

Smaletz – Congealed lard.

Varenniki – Large stuffed dumplings.

Glasnost – An official Soviet government policy emphasizing candor in regard to discussion of social problems.