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4.0 

The Lost Year

By Katherine Marsh
The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

*A National Book Award Finalist*

From the author of Nowhere Boy - called “a resistance novel for our times” by The New York Times - comes a brilliant middle-grade survival story that traces a harrowing family secret back to the Holodomor, a terrible famine that devastated Soviet Ukraine in the 1930s.

Thirteen-year-old Matthew is miserable. His journalist dad is stuck overseas indefinitely, and his mom has moved in his one-hundred-year-old great-grandmother to ride out the pandemic, adding to his stress and isolation.

But when Matthew finds a tattered black-and-white photo in his great-grandmother’s belongings, he discovers a clue to a hidden chapter of her past, one that will lead to a life-shattering family secret. Set in alternating timelines that connect the present-day to the 1930s and the US to the USSR, Katherine Marsh’s latest novel sheds fresh light on the Holodomor – the horrific famine that killed millions of Ukrainians, and which the Soviet government covered up for decades.

An incredibly timely, page-turning story of family, survival, and sacrifice, inspired by Marsh’s own family history, The Lost Year is perfect for fans of Ruta Sepetys' Between Shades of Gray and Alan Gratz's Refugee.

Lexile 710 L.

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221 Reviews

4.0
Surprised Face with Open Mouth“Powerful story with a twist at the end.”
Thumbs Up“Loved this way of learning about history in Ukraine. Strong connection between communist propaganda modern concerns about disinformation. Relatable covid lockdown plot line. I guessed the plot reveal fairly early but still great. Recommend for any age middle school readers!”

About Katherine Marsh

Katherine Marsh is the Edgar Award-winning author of The Night Tourist, Nowhere Boy, The Twilight Prisoner, Jepp, Who Defied the Stars, and The Doors By the Staircase. Katherine grew up in New York and now lives in Washington, DC with her husband and two children.

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