Stubborn Life

"Not an easy read, but an important one." -Historical Novel Society

"In her earliest memories of life in 1930 on the Soviet side of the border between Ukraine and Poland, author Michalska recalls activists coming to her family's small village and plundering property (…). In her memoir, Michalska shows readers the desperation of residents during the great famine when 3 million died and survivors were often too weak to bury the dead or gather willow leaves to pound into bran for flatbread. Stubborn Life follows Michalska after she and her family are exiled to Kazakhstan. The book pulls no punches. It does not use emotion but direct, unadorned prose to convey the few instances, as Michalska acknowledges, when fate took “her under its wing in a hostile, cruel world” and enabled her to return to her homeland. It sidelines feelings of hope, instead elevating a fierce, unrelenting determination.” —Historical Novel Society

“Rarely do people write about such great tragedies as calmly as Michalska does—without complaint, without blame. The dispassionate style of the narrative strengthens the impact of the description. This is a story about the will to survive, and about the joy that comes from that survival. Awe-inspiring—I read this incredible recollection in one breath.” —Granice 

 “A sober hymn to tenacity and courage. This determined woman tells her story in a neutral tone, without pathos, without bitterness, without incriminating or nationalist reproaches. Despite everything, solidarity, dedication, and kindness persist.” —Les Notes 

 “What a story! Stubborn Life is both a glimpse into all the complexities and cruelties of the Soviet twentieth century, and a sober and powerful account of a life marked as much by the determination to move forward as by ‘the memory of all those (…) who stayed there forever.’” —Passage àagrave; l’Est