A bit lacking in plot and bogged down by logistics (the kind of thing from which I turn to books to escape), but the writing is beautiful and what it does well, it does really well

This book was good but hard to read at some points. You engage with the characters due to the writing. I would recommend. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving this book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

<i>I received a copy of MOTHER COUNTRY in exchange for an honest & original review. Thanks to NetGalley & Thomas Dunne Books for the chance to read this book.)</i>

In the mess that is our world, it's easy for things to get lost. It's easier still to think we are informed enough about all things to offer opinions and make assumptions. And it's easiest yet to make assumptions that amount to saying "these two things are similar, therefore they are the same."

We do ourselves a great disservice when do that.

And in MOTHER COUNTRY, Irina Reyn reminds her readers of that.

It is the story of Nadia, who left Ukraine in search of a better life for herself and her daughter. But because nothing sucks the life out of <i>hope</i> as fast as bureaucracy, her daughter is left behind for years while Nadia works as a nanny and an elder care aide in Brooklyn, always trying to be reunited with her now adult daughter.

Nadia didn't fit in quite right in Ukraine and she doesn't fit in at all in America. The Russians don't trust her and the Ukrainians judge each other. And she judges them all. No one is ever quite close enough to really know or trust each other. And she ends up not even knowing her daughter well.

The deep value of this story is in the things it breaks down, the way it reminds the reader that you can read articles about the war in Ukraine, the life of immigrants in America, until the proverbial cows come home but you will never know everything. And assumptions made from pretending to know just enough to share your opinions and 'knowledge' leads to nothing but misunderstanding and intolerance.

I wish there had been more to the story, not necessarily a happily ever after (because those are unicorns in pots of gold at the ends of rainbows) but something more... substantial. To put it simply, I would have read more about Nadia and Larissa and their lives, separate and together.

A story about the lengths a mother will go to for her family. This one was thoughtful and touching. I felt for Nadia and went through the book all the while wishing things will work out for her and her daughter Larisska.

Nadia was a wonderful character, and I was drawn deep into this story from the very beginning. It felt very real, and it was extremely well-written. Overall, it was very interesting to see the various different levels of difficulty and obstacles that Nadia needed to navigate, but it never seemed over the top or unbelievable. Great read!

I really wanted to like this book because I'm a huge fan of Russian literature. When I read the summary it seemed like a book that was right up my alley. Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book because it was just getting too confusing and it just didn't hold my interest. I would want to pick up the book again in the future once I look more into the political backstory that this book refers to but for now I am going to put it down and hopefully pick it up in the future.

The complexity of the mother-daughter relationship is explored so very well in this well written book. As a Russian resident in New York, Nadia finds herself almost at war with her Ukrainian neighbors. The effect of post-war Russia on these characters is at the heart of this book, and effects on this mother and daughter are far-reaching.

Mother Country by Irina Reyn is a novel about motherhood, immigration, and cultural assimilation. It delivers an emotional tsunami with regard to motherhood. The harsh realities of immigration, the family unification program, and adjustment to a new culture are portrayed with both sensitivity and a complete absence of sentimentality. Reyn’s ability to convey complex and conflicting emotion is outstanding. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand why people immigrate to the United States and the conditions that they endure before and after.

I must also disclose that this is a hard read. The transitions between past and present are rough, and I often found myself having to reorient myself as to when and where the action was. Similarly, there are significant gaps of time in which relationships are transformed without sufficient transition or development. Unfortunately, this undermined the emotional integrity of the characterization.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow I really enjoyed this story about a mother and daughter separated by war. It's poignant and will tug at your heart strings. Definitely pick up this winner of a book. Happy reading!

I adored Mrs. Reyn’s The Imperial Wife, and while it is a different time era, this was a compelling new novel. This story tells the story of a mother and daughter separated by war. They go through a harrowing journey to reunite. This novel is a poignant story of love, loss, and family.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

This mother-daughter story takes readers from Ukraine( 1980's to 2015) to New York (2014-2015) and highlights both the post Soviet impact on the Ukranian population and the ups and downs of being an immigrant. Eastern European politics isn't something that too many people in North America tend to focus on, but what Irina Reyn does very well for readers is illustrating the tensions between Ukranians and Russians. As intense as it sounds, there are lighthearted moments in the story that made me giggle.


Publication Date 26/02/18
Goodreads review 18/02/19

This is a beautifully written and insightful glimpse into the life of an Eastern European migrant in America and class distinction in New York. Deeply-layered, it compares many different stratas of society, including the Ukrainians and Russians in America and it also compares life in Ukraine with modern life in the USA. Irena Reyn captures all this through her heroine Nadia's eyes, showing us a different world.

Nadia has a hard life in a seedy part of Brooklyn, struggling with two jobs. She works as a nanny for ambitious Regina and cares for an annoying old man at night, so that she can eventually bring her diabetic daughter to America from war-torn Ukraine. She doesn't have many friends, isn't happy with her life, and she has a fraught relationship with her daughter Larisska, because she left her in war-torn Ukraine. The horrors of the war came suddenly, and the emptiness and snobbishness of life in New York doesn't compare favourably with the community spirit and the old beauty of Rubizhne. But Nadia has a steel will and a strong spirit. Will these be enough to help her cope with her new life?

This is a haunting story, well-worth reading. I highly recommend it.

I received this free ebook from Net Galley in return for an honest review.

3.5 Stars

"Mother Country" is the story of Nadia, a Ukrainian woman who leaves her adult daughter and comes to the United States, working multiple jobs and trying for years to get approval for her daughter to join her in America. Nadia deals with the guilt she feels for leaving her daughter, and as unrest grows in the Ukraine, the guilt and fear become overpowering.

In spite of some heavy topics, the book is still enjoyable to read. Nadia was a well-developed character, and while I understood her daughter's pain and confusion at being left, I also understood why Nadia did it. I also enjoyed some of the other characters, like Boris, who added some levity to what could have been a much sadder book.

As Nadia reflects on her past, a traumatic event is recalled. While I think the author included this to reveal something that shaped Nadia's life and personality, I found this difficult to read. Also, I'm still unsure how I feel about the ending. There is a lack of resolution that fits with the general structure and flow of the book, but it also made we want more answers about what comes next.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Thomas Dunne Books for the advance copy.

Fellow readers, I have something to admit: I once again judged a book by it’s cover. When I was browsing NetGalley I came across the artwork for Mother Country by Irina Reyn and was mesmerized by its beauty. After staring at the cover for a few minutes, I decided to read over the blurb, and immediately requested a copy. The story was as beautifully written as the cover looked, but wasn’t exactly my cup of tea.


Let me start off by saying that while this book wasn’t necessarily my favourite, that doesn’t mean it was a bad book. In fact, it was wonderful. However, it’s difficult for me to relate to characters when I have hardly anything in common with them.

This story centers around a woman named Nadezhda (Nadia, for short), a Ukrainian immigrant who left her only daughter to move to the United States. They were supposed to immigrate together, but after waiting years, her daughter, Larisska (also referred to as Larissa), was legally too old to immigrate as a child, and Nadia made the difficult decision to go on without her in hopes of bringing Larisska over soon after settling into her new life.

Mother Country is told in both past and present. It flips back and forth between Nadia’s life in America where she works multiple jobs to support both herself and her family back home, and her past life in war-town Ukraine/Soviet Union (depending on the year). We see the hardships she endured growing up, how she raised her daughter, and how far she pushes herself in order to be reunited with Larisska, regardless of how much time has passed.

At its core, Mother Country is a story about what it means to be a mother: the sacrifices you make for your children, the lengths you will go to do what you think is best for them, and the difficult decisions you must make in order to create a better life for your entire family. The story also touches on themes of immigration, and adjusting to life in a new country and culture.

The backdrop for the story centers around political tension back home in Nadia’s mother country. In 2014, Ukraine’s president fell from power, and Russia stepped in. Military sanctions were put in place, and the Ukrainian territory of Crimea was annexed back to Russia. I briefly remembered hearing about these events when they happened, but found myself Googling more information as I read about it in this book.

I’m not a mother or an immigrant, and I’ve never lived in an area experiencing civil conflict. As a result, I found it difficult to relate to Nadia and her story. However, I appreciated the narrative, and respected the story. While Mother Country is a piece of fiction, its underlying themes are very real, and many people around the world experience them everyday. It provides an insightful look into the experience’s of others, and is important to read and reflect on.

Mother Country will be available on February 26, 2018, and can be bought wherever books are sold. Thank you to the publisher for an electronic copy of this book via NetGalley.

Nadezhda (Nadia) is an ethnic Russian who grew up in the countryside of Ukraine. Nadia's daughter, Larissa, is Nadia's baby girl even when she grows up. Nadia can never see her daughter as anything but her baby who she will devote her life to totally and painfully.

Nadia applied for a visa to the USA when Larissa was very young with her sister who had gone to the USA before her as a sponsor. Years go by, and finally, they get called to the US embassy to process their application. As huge disappointments go, the mother and daughter find out that Larissa, as a twenty-one-year-old, cannot go under her mother's appeal. She must apply as an adult which could take another eight or ten years. Nadia is required, on the spot, to decide to go herself and leave Nadia behind. Nadia thinks it will be a shorter wait this time and determines it is best if she goes ahead and settles in with a home and a job for both of them.

Larrisa is furious and storms out of the consulate. The mother-daughter relationship begins to suffer from that moment. Nadia goes to the US and settles in Brooklyn where there are mostly Russian immigrants. Because she speaks Russian with a Ukrainian accent, she looked down on, and life is never easy. To survive, Nadia works two part-time jobs as a nanny and a caregiver for the elderly. She is good at both of her roles and saves assiduously so she can send money to buy the insulin Larissa needs. Larissa's health is Nadia's purpose in going on even though she isn't thrilled with her hard and lonely life. Reading about the violence occurring in Ukraine is always on Nadia's mind, and her determination to get Larissa out of there is her only goal in life.

Larissa avoids contact with Nadia, never forgiving her for leaving her behind. Nadia skypes often, but Larissa is always sleeping, busy, or out with a friend. As a mother, I felt the emotional struggle in this story. Nadia has many ideas of how to have a better life in the USA and how to get Larissa there with her. On-line-dating is one of them. You'll have to read this deeply affecting novel to find out how life turns out for this strong Ukranian woman and her even stronger daughter.

I received an advanced copy of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley.

What should a mother do? Everyone has ideas about this, even people who aren’t mothers. It seems that, no matter who we are or what culture we’re a part of, we can’t help but have opinions about how women are raising their children. The protagonist of Irina Reyn’s thoughtful, troubling novel, Mother Country, is the target of judgment from friends, nannies, and relatives. Worst of all, Nadezhda’s own daughter judges her mothering. And yet, at every step in this heart-breaking novel, Nadia is absolutely convinced that she’s doing the right thing for her little Larisska.

Nadia has had one all-encompassing mission in life: to keep Larissa safe. This directive has manifested itself in her determination to bring her diabetic daughter from the war-torn western Ukraine to the United States. She tried once, just after the turn of the millennium, only to find that Larissa was too old to travel as her child. At 21, Larissa would have to apply independently. But Nadia’s own application was approved. So, in the interests of saving her child, Nadia made the awful choice of traveling thousands of miles away from her only child, leaving Larissa in her grandmother’s care in their small town. Nadia’s plan is to make as much money as she can and work the American bureaucracy to bring her daughter over.

By the time we meet Nadia—who is working two jobs to try and save money—it’s been years since she left Ukraine and Larissa is almost 30. Nadia is still trying to bring Larissa to the United States, but the years (during which war broke out in western Ukraine) have done a lot to separate the two. Nadia still sees her daughter as a child. In all of Nadia’s reminiscences about Larissa, Nadia always seems to be stopping her daughter from making choices about food, boys, and her future. It’s all done in the name of “saving” Larissa. But, even though I was getting things from Nadia’s point of view, I couldn’t help but wish that Nadia would make the effort to really understand who Larissa is and what Larissa wants.

Mothers will always be mothers, however. If Mother Country teaches us nothing else, it’s that mothers will always try to save their children. The hapless mother Nadia nannies for tries to shape her daughter into an idealized Russian child. The American mothers are all helicopter parents who also want to be their children’s friends. The Russian and Ukrainian women all want their daughters (and each other) to be “safely” married to a male breadwinner. It’s clear from an outside perspective that no one is going to get what they want. But, of course, who’s going to listen to an outsider when it comes to raising children?

When I first read the synopsis I was interested. However, when I began reading, the story just didn't hold my interest. I'm sure others will find the narrative is for them, but this one is a pass for me

think this book will mainly appeal to people who want to know more about what is currently going on in Russia/Ukraine(To be honest, me like many Americans did not realize until the fall of the Soviet Union that there was a difference between Russia and the Ukraine. I know I firmly believed that many Ukrainian cities were Russia cities. It helps that I know some recent Russian immigrants. Otherwise I think I might have found parts of the book confusing.

Like some other reviewers I found the characters not well developed. The story focuses on Nadia who is a immigrant from the Ukraine. She works as a nanny for an upper-middle class family in New York where the mother came from Russia to the US when she was five. The first half of the book compares child rearing in the US to the harsher realities of life in the Ukraine.

However, the book never really gets into the characters heads. The characters really don't change.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

'She preferred to think of herself as an observer, a temporary traveler, someone waiting for a new life to begin, rather than who she really was: a worker executing an invisible task within the neighborhood’s complex ecosystem.'

Nadia splits her time as a Nanny to the privileged little girl of a Russian born woman who demands she teach her child Russian, even if she cannot speak it well herself and as a caregiver at VIP Senior Care, tending to the elderly. Often feeling invisible in the eyes of her employers “That she had her own family on the opposite side of the world? That her life was far rounder than the reflection in the woman’s eyes?” she pushes on through her days, biding time until everything she has worked for finally comes to fruition. Relying on Skype, Nadia can keep contact with her beloved daughter Larisska whom she had no choice but to leave behind with her mother in Ukraine, a fractured country that has gone to war. Larisska, feeling abandoned, has her own acts of defiance, barely coming to the video call, refusing to answer her mother about her level of health, to say whether or not she is keeping up with her insulin injections but even that is preferable to the dead silence of unanswered calls and the fear that they could have died, and if they are alive, how will she get her medicine if everything has ceased to function? Then there is no hope as America isn’t granting asylum, everything on hold thanks to Homeland Security.

There was a time when Nadia worked hard as a successful bookkeeper in Ukraine, a diligent employee who caught the eye of the married midlevel manager at their manufacturing company. A place where she was respected, proud to do her work, had her own routines like meeting up with her childhood friend Yulia and their old schoolmates often, then the brief affair (if a moment of bliss and passion can be called an affair) that leaves her pregnant with Larisska. Understanding that he will never leave his wife and children for Nadia and their unborn child, or acknowledge Larisska as his, surely he must know she bore his fruit, Nadia is happy just to be in his charming, handsome presence. She is sure that each extra kindness he gives her is his way of showing he loves her and knows about Larisska. Then changes begin in her country, subtly at first. Storefronts altering signs from Russian to Ukrainian, government documents changing to the Ukrainian language, soon currency being phased out and then, payment at work in mandarins. How is Nadia, a single mother, going to keep her child and mother alive on mandarins?

Her daughter Larisska, ” such an adorably willful little thing,” a neighbor once told her of her newborn was stubborn from the start, refusing even to nurse from her breast. Then, the diabetes diagnoses when Nadia couldn’t possibly afford the insulin. Their only hope is America, but the years pass and when it’s finally Nadia’s turn and her application is approved, there is a flaw in the plan, Larisska at 21 is too old (has aged out) to be approved. Nadia makes the hard decision to go anyway without her girl, leaving Larisska feeling at once betrayed and discarded. To Nadia’s way of thinking, it is the only hope she has of keeping Larisska healthy, her medication supplied and she will get her daughter to America, once she herself is settled in. Larisska thinks they should stay together, it’s too late anyway to move away. Nadia knows America is the land of opportunity, the prize! It is a hard transition, a land with so many different people of many colors, some she had only read about before, and at first, she fears them all but she has no choice but to adapt if she is going to get Larisska there. America, however, has other plans. Applications continuously get declined and Larisska’s life goes on without her. With the fighting between western Ukranians, separatists and Russians her fervent prayers that they leave her homeland aren’t enough to make it happen, soon access to medication stops, and Nadia devises a brilliant plan to save her Larisska after a night out on the town with her friends. With no man in her own life, her thoughts are never focused on her own loneliness, and instead of love for herself, she will find a man for Larisska, in America! Mother knows best, always.

This is a story about mothering when you’re pinned to a wall with threats coming at you in all corners. When you don’t have the luxury of choices and war turns your world upside down, when I love yous aren’t easy to utter because you are just trying to stay afloat, love is obvious in your actions, don’t need to be stated. That sometimes in trying to be your child’s salvation, you may just forget that they too have plans of their own and time doesn’t stand still when you leave. It is terribly missing your ‘Mother Country’ while trying to adapt to your adoptive one, because the country you left never remains the same nor do the people you had to leave behind. It is about sacrifice but will it all be worth it in the end, will Larisska ever make it to America? Will she continue to resent her mother? Will Nadia forever be stuck mothering someone else’s child while her own is sick on another continent in desperate need of her?

I thought this was a wonderful novel, it is not solely about the immigrant experience, it is also about motherhood, and crumbs of love some people delude themselves into accepting, as we see with Nadia and the technolog (the manager who fathers Larisska). Nadia seems to spend much of her life making assumptions about people. She is a woman who really needs to learn to let go, that sometimes you have to just flow with what destiny has in store for you. Not easy when she has had to figure out so much on her own. Yes, read it!

Publication Date: February 26, 2019

St. Martin’s Press

The publisher uses the word "urgent" in describing this work--and it is apt. This is an intelligent, compassionate and urgent look at characters whose lives are in free fall.