Stubborn Life : Hardship and Hope in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Poland - Franceska Michalska

Stubborn Life

Hardship and Hope in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Poland

By: Franceska Michalska, Sean Gasper Bye (Translator)

Paperback | 5 November 2024

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A memoir of the Russian occupation of Ukraine in the 1930s and the mass deportation of Poles from the region.

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

The end of the 1920s, the author's first memory: a knock on the door and the arrest of her uncle, guilty of "anti-Soviet activities.” He is to be executed. Born in 1923, a dozen or so kilometers from the pre-war Polish-Soviet border, Franceska Michalska is a citizen of occupied Ukraine. Her family, finding a nest of eggs to eat, miraculously survive the great famine of 1931-32 before falling victim to growing Stalinist terror and the mass deportation of Poles from the region to Kazakhstan. All the while, Franceska dreams of studying medicine. 8,000 km and infinite difficulties later, she enters Poland and becomes a doctor, finally obtaining the Polish nationality she never had. Writing in a heartfelt yet matter-of-fact style, Michalska brilliantly evokes daily life under Russian occupation. Now more than ever, this memoir reads like a warning against history repeating, while at the same time offering a testament to human strength and to hope.

Industry Reviews
Praise for 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

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