Marsha Skrypuch - Don't Tell the Enemy

Russian and Soviet are not interchangeable: Russian refers to ethnicity, while Soviet refers to a geographic area controlled by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union contained many nationalities, including Russians, Ukrainians, Poles and Germans.

There are thousands of mass graves all over Ukraine, yet while the Soviet Union existed, the people who lived in these terrible times and witnessed what happened during both Soviet and Nazi occupations were not allowed to talk about it. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, researchers were finally able to interview eyewitnesses and begin excavating the mass graves — graves filled with victims of both the Nazi and Soviet dictatorships.

I am so very grateful to have worked with Sandy Bogart Johnston on this novel. It was a tough and emotional ride for both of us but Sandy got me through it. Thank you, Krystia Korpan (nee Sikorska), for opening up your memory to that terrible time and reliving your pain with me. Iryna Korpan, thank you for patiently answering all of my seemingly inane questions over the course of several years. Professor Iroida Wynnyckyj and Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, thank you both for your precise and varied research help. Appreciation to my late in-laws, Dr. John and Lidia Skrypuch, whose terrifying wartime experiences gave me context to understand Krystia’s complex story. A kiss to my husband, Orest, for his patience and encouragement. And a heartfelt thank you to dear departed Orysia Tracz, whose encyclopedic knowledge of all things Ukrainian is unsurpassed. Many times while in the final stages of this novel I reached for the phone to call her, only to realize yet again that my friend would not be there to answer. Vichnaya Pamyat.

Lida and her younger sister are caught by the Nazis and separated. Lida is sent to a slave labour camp, where she works from dawn to dusk on only bread and soup, clad in one thin dress and no shoes. Even if she manages to survive the war, how will she find her sister again?

“A sensitively written page turner that teaches lessons in courage, faith, ingenuity and hard work… It is an important story.”

— The Montreal Gazette

“[A]nother compelling tale based on the slave raids Hitler conducted throughout the Soviet Union.”

— Calgary Herald

“The story is gripping and the themes powerful… an important piece of historical fiction.”

—Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction, jury citation

* Silver Birch Award Winner

* Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction Finalist

* An Ontario Library Association Best Bet

* Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award Finalist

* Resource Links , Best of the Year

* Best Books for Kids & Teens , Starred Selection

Nadia arrives in Canada after the end of World War II, from the Displaced Persons’ camp where she has spent the last five years. But troubling memories and dreams begin to haunt her. Who is she really? She sees images of another family, Nazi uniforms, Hitler… but can she believe what her dreams are telling her?

“[Skrypuch] takes on the Nazis’ notorious obsession with racial purity in her new novel… [She] succeeds in making some of the more horrific and lesser-known events of the Second World War accessible and engaging for younger readers.”

“Through gripping prose… Skrypuch relates a story previously untold in children’s fiction, offering an original perspective on the Ukrainian experience during the Second World War.”

* Crystal Kite Award Winner

* CLA Book of the Year for Children Finalist

* An Ontario Library Association Best Bet

* Best Books for Kids & Teens , Starred Selection

* Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award Honour Book

* Resource Links , Best of the Year

* Diamond Willow Award Finalist

* Golden Oak Award Nominee

* IODE Violet Downey Recommended List

Luka escapes from a brutal German slave labour camp, desperate to make his way back through the mountains to Kyiv and his father… and then to find Lida, if she is still alive.

“[Skrypuch] does a wonderful job of illuminating the moral dilemmas forced upon ordinary people during extraordinary times… [and] certainly succeeded in introducing this compelling slice of history to a new audience.”

“ Underground Soldier is also a worthy choice as supplementary reading for classes studying The Diary of Anne Frank , and it is an excellent addition to school library collections.”

* Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction Finalist

* Kobzar Literary Award Finalist

* Best Books for Kids & Teens selection

* Resource Links , Best of the Year

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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Skrypuch, Marsha Forchuk, 1954-, author

Don’t tell the enemy / Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-4431-2839-1 (softcover).--ISBN 978-1-4431-2840-7 (ebook)

I. Title. II. Title: Do not tell the enemy.

PS8587 K79 D66 2018 jC813’.54 C2017-904984-4

C2017-904985-2

Photos ©: Shutterstock: cover main silo: MikeDotta; cover background: Nik Merkulov; cover bottom right symbol: Peter Lorimer; cover barbed wire: Prazis Images.

Copyright © 2018 by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read this e-book on-screen. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Scholastic Canada Ltd., 604 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario M5V 1E1, Canada.

First e-book edition: January 2018