Hello hello, and welcome or welcome back to my little bookish corner of the internet. Today is my stop on the blog tour for Seven Million Sunflowers by Malcolm Duffy as part of Refugee Week, an important YA novel published earlier this year. My thanks to Zephyr books for my early copy.
Synopsis
Escaping war is only half the battle as the Kovalenko family swap Ukrainian dangers for life with a British family.
15-year-old Kateryno and her family live in Kharkiv. Their lives are shattered when on February 24th 2022 the Russian army invades. Their apartment block is struck by a missile. After weeks living in their basement, Kateryno, her mother, and brother, decide to leave, joining seven million Ukrainian refugees. They come to England and meet their host family, the Hawkins. But their new beginning brings a whole new set of problems.
Review
I was taken with interest for this book when I first heard about it because of the charity work I’m involved with that helps in part support refugees of the Ukrainian invasion. We make blankets – as individuals, or make squares that go into group blankets – and last year our charity leaders were able to deliver these to Poland where they met many of the children impacted. The videos and photos they shared with us, and a Ukrainian flag the children signed with messages of thanks and hope, still send shivers down my body when I think of them. I’ll share my review now, but I’ll also include our charity details at the end if you would like to donate yarn, time, or funds to help us help many more children in need.
It was not long after seeing the above mentioned footage that I picked up Seven Million Sunflowers and started to read Kat’s journey. There are some books that leave you haunted, some thoughts that will never quite dislodge from your mind, and the opening section of this book is one of them. The book itself isn’t overly heavy; more powerful, and hitting just the right balance to get its point across without becoming too dark, which is especially important with books aimed at young adults. Knowing especially that Malcolm Duffy has written this with help and inspiration from the Ukrainian family he hosted means that every word hits that little bit deeper, and I yearned to comfort Kat and her family through the pages, which of course then makes you think of the real people behind the book.
Throughout Seven Million Sunflowers, we encounter situations that no-one should ever have to face. They are depicted in a realistic manner, and the characters remain relatable even in the heart of their pain. We see a family relying on another for all they have, trying to start again. A mother who doesn’t speak the language but is still trying to parent her children, one of whom is a teenage boy who wants nothing more than to be with his dad, fighting on the front lines, so is rebelling. Kat is left to translate often awkward conversations between the English family and her Ukrainian mother, and has to decide where the balance of truth needs to lie to keep everyone happy. This particular point really moved me emotionally; although just an average teenager, she’s been pushed into the role of an adult in so many ways, and it’s the little things like this that make Duffy’s writing so convincing.
The truly admirable thing for me about Kat was how she attempted to strike the balance between being a displaced person with PTSD and horrific nightmares, and a normal teenager with a crush on a boy, going to parties and trying to make sense of the way friendship doesn’t always translate to the best of intentions. She never stops trying to see the good in people, and even when at her limit with them, has a layer of empathy she could so easily have discarded given all she’s been through herself. While it broke my heart time and again to remember this was inspired by true events, there was a strength here that any Harry Potter, Katniss or Feyre Archeron could only aspire to have.
The difficulties and problems that remain for the family to face are vivid and vicious. There are people and situations the characters encounter that are kind and cruel, unjust and unfair. Throughout, we see a resilience and determination to survive that only coming face to face with not surviving can leave you with; a brittle, tenuous hope, but hope nonetheless.
The only thing left for me to say is “Slava Ukraini”, and to encourage you to pick up Seven Million Sunflowers today.
Another thanks to Zephyr for my copy of this book. I’ll also be sharing my interview with Malcolm Duffy next week, as he was kind enough to talk to me via email. If you’re curious about the charity I mentioned at the beginning of this post, you can find more details about us, Woolly Hugs, here.
And On She Reads 