Thank you author and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review

Katherine Marsh is brilliant. I always love reading her books - they are a must-add to middle grade libraries!

This is not how Matthew expect this year to go. The world has shut down because of Covid. His journalist dad is stuck overseas and his mom just moved his 100 year old great grandmother in with them to keep her safe. And when his mom takes away his only fun, his video games, he finds a new way to occupy his time, helping GG go through her boxes full of memorabilia. In those boxes he finds clues to a history he does not know, abed her sets it to get GG to share her story.

As GG opens up to Matthew, we get two perspectives from the 1930s. Mila in Kyiv, Ukraine and Helen in Brooklyn, New York. All three perspectives help tell the story of the famine in Ukraine in the 1930s and make a commentary on who and what gets to define the truth.
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I love reading books that open my eyes to parts of history previously unknown to me, and this book does that in a such a carefully crafted way. The way the story was woven through the three perspectives fleshed it out more and made the characters more three dimensional.

There are some horrific things that happen in this novel, but I think they were presented tactfully where the reader gets the picture without having to experience all the gritty details.

Overall I enjoyed this book and because it opened my eyes to a new part of history, it will be one that I think about for years to come.
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Content Note: This book addresses the 1930s famine in Soviet Ukraine, so there are descriptions of abuse and people starving to death. Other things to be aware of are: antisemitism, bullying, execution, classist rhetoric, and descriptions of 2020 Covid pandemic. As such, I highly suggest parents or guardians read this one alongside their children to discuss with them.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I like novels that connect stories throughout generations, which this one does. While it was not the most interesting story and didn't compel me to read further, it was an important story.

What a spectacular read! This is more than just a historical novel. Marsh weaves together three perspectives - two girls in the 1930s and a boy at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. While Matthew's story appears initially to just be a way to engage the reader with the historical plot, as the narrative unfolds we see more parallels. Certainly, this is a historical novel at heart. It's a tale of the Ukrainian famine and it's devastating effects on a trio of cousins. But it's also a tale of loss and fear, of isolation and your world being inexorably changed. That is part of where Matthew's story comes in. And at a higher level it is an introduction to narrative. As the characters discover, it matters who is telling the story and what their motivations might be. We learn about propaganda and state controlled media, the power of our news sources telling us what is and isn't true even without evidence. This is a story you can read multiple times and come away with a different point to reflect on each time.

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
The book follows two time periods, 2020 and 1933. In 2020 the reader gets Mathew's perspective as he deals with the lockdown, remote learning, and having his father be in Europe. In 1933 The reader listens to Helen, a Ukranian-American girl, and Mila, a Ukranian girl. Mila lives in Kyiv, and through her, the reader is introduced to her cousin Nadia, a peasant farmer. The 1933 portion of the tale focuses on the famine, its effect on the population, and how the government handled it. The 2020 portion is split between the personal effects of the lockdown and Mathew's interactions with his Great Grandmother.
The story introduces readers to a period of history that they may be unfamiliar with. It also addresses how governments are not always upfront about what is happening in their country, like with the information about the famine or the news about the severity of Covid19.
The writing level makes this a good book for middle-grade readers, however, it does cover the death of children through starvation so some readers might not be ready for it.

This is a fantastic middle grade novel about the Holodomor (Great Famine) in Ukraine in the 1930s. Told from three different perspectives, there were plot twists I didn't see coming. Excellent on audio, a must-buy for all middle school libraries!

A book that contrasts the struggles of the prevailed vs. the struggles of people in crisis. It is told from the perspective 12 and 13 year olds, making it a solid choice for introducing children to geopolitical issues.

This book is middle grade/Young adult level however I would recommend this for all ages this is a powerful story!
I loved the way the stories all came together past and current plus the current story is during covid so that adds another dimension to this story. Matthew is learning about his great grandmothers past but as the story unfolds it turns out to be so much more of a heartbreaking story than he ever realized. So begins GG’s story the story of Mila and Nadiya in 1932 Kyiv and the story of her cousin Helen at the same time in the US and how these stories unfold will leave you breathless.

This was a powerful book especially knowing what is happening there now( this is addressed in the afterword).

Narration by , Anna Fikhman, Christopher Gebauer, & Jesse Vilinsky was excellent they brought every emotion and everyone had a voice. Very good narration!

I highly recommend this book and will be getting it for our library.
4 stars

I received this book from the publisher Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Young Listeners and NetGalley for a fair and honest review.

In The Lost Year, Matthew is not having a good time. COVID has forced his family into isolation while his father is stuck overseas. He and his mother have to be especially careful about quarantine because his great-grandmother is living with them. But when he finds some of his great-grandmother's old photos and documents, he becomes interested in her past. Over the course of the book Matthew learns about his great-grandmother’s experience during the Ukrainian famine of the 1930s, unlocking a huge secret she has kept for nearly all of her life.

I didn't know anything about the Ukrainian famine before reading this book and I'm sure a lot of others don't know about it either. The Lost Year does a great job of not shying away from the atrocities happening during that time while still staying vague enough to not be too graphic for children. I'd say it's similar to The Book Thief in that way. Marsh crafted a really beautiful narrative around two very different but difficult periods of time. If you like historical fiction, stories of family, or have a young reader in your life, I'd definitely recommend this book!

Great for fans of Ruta Sepetys and Alan Gratz. This is a very timely book and only one of three or four middle grade books I've seen about COVID lockdowns. It also tells the tell of a 20th century tragedy that is largely unknown in the United States.

Matthew is stuck at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and thought his boredom couldn’t get any worse - until he’s grounded from video games and must help his great grandmother go through the boxes in her room. As they sort through the boxes, the story of three girls living in Soviet Ukraine during the Holodomor begins to unfold.

This middle grade novel was so powerful and well laid out. The juxtaposition of Matthew’s life compared to Mila and Helen’s are all very different, but all from places of privilege relative to their situations. Matthew is living in a world filled with technology to communicate and see what is happening on the other side of the world in real time; Helen grew up in New York City during the Great Depression, in a stable home with parents who could find jobs in an unstable market; and Mila’s father was a communist party member of rank in Stalin’s Ukraine, while Mila herself did not know hunger, and was often presented with chocolate or treats.

This contrast with Nadya, rounding out the three girls from the past timeline of this story, was staggering. Her family faced famine, and she faced far worse as the story went on, and as she tried to make contact with her father’s brothers to try and survive.

While the characters are fictional, the situations they faced were all too real. As the communist party took over, Ukrainian families were forced to give up their livelihoods and farms and hand them over to Stalin. A class war pitted citizens against each other, leaving those in rural areas to starve and desperately try to escape. And all this was underreported in North America due to an esteemed writer for the New York Times incorrectly reporting that the claims of famine were false.

The Lost Year paints a harrowing tale of survival in 1932, and a growing respect from Matthew towards his Gigi as she weaves the history of their family. This novel starts with Matthew upset about going through boxes that he assumes will be filled with “false teeth, expired coupons and ancient underwear” - it seems as though Gigi is not really a person with her own story through his eyes, and is instead the ageist stereotype of an senior. As they go through the boxes together, he begins to see the value of her story, and she begins to let it unravel for the first time. This echoes a sentiment that I found true in my own life - young people who listen to and build relationships with older adults grow to be more empathetic and caring people.

Overall a fantastic story with fantastic narration, and a really powerful message. I highly recommend picking this up!

I loved The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh. Alternating between America in 2020 and Ukraine in the 1930’s worked well for me. It created a balance that helped me manage the horror and tragedy of those suffering under Stalin’s iron fist. It often seemed like when the historical sections of the story got to be too much, Marsh returned me to the year 2020 and gave me a bit of a breather before sending me back to the 1930s. I found these little breaks essential, especially since the Ukrainian people are once again suffering unspeakable atrocities.

The Lost Year is a book I’ll be recommending to many library patrons and even purchasing for my personal collection.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley

After last year's "Winterkill" by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, Katherine Marsh's "The Lost Year" is another mainstream middle-grade novel introducing Anglophone readers to the Holodomor, the genocidal Famine of 1932-1933 in Soviet Ukraine (more than 4 million Ukrainians died of hunger). By using three narrators, two timelines, and setting parts of the novel in the USA, Marsh makes the geographically and historically distant history more tangible for those unfamiliar with the Ukrainian context and showcases its global relevance. "The Lost Year" is not only captivating and readable, but it is also a must-read for everyone who wants to learn more about Ukraine and its complex relationship with Russia.

The Lost Year is a dual-timeline middle-grade novel. Matthew is a 13-year-old living in 2020 at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. His 100-year-old great-grandmother has just moved in with him so he has to be even more cautious about Covid. He can't go anywhere or do anything fun it seems. The second timeline focuses on two girls, Mila and Nadiya, living in Kyiv, Ukraine/USSR in the early 1930s. Their story centers on the Holodomor - a manmade famine imposed upon "kulaks" (Russian peasant farmers) by the Soviet regime. I had never even heard of the Holodomor before listening to this book. Katherine Marsh did an excellent job of teaching about this horrific time in Ukrainian history. This book is perfect for our current time. It would be a great middle-grade read-aloud.

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Roaring Brook Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for advanced reading and listening copies of The Lost Year.

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Roaring Brook Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for advanced reading and listening copies of The Lost Year.

I was excited to read this title because of the historical content that correlated with current events. It is a topic that because the events are so current, we do not have many stories written about them yet. I understand that the target audience is middle grade, however, as a mother I want the characters of a story to be something worth emulating. I had a hard time and could not get passed both narrators attitudes. Unfortunately, because of this reason, I would not recommend this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy.

Heartbreaking and memorable story! Told from three different perspectives, it reveals the horrific details of life under Soviet rule in Russia and Ukraine.

The modern day story is set during 2020 and the lockdowns from Covid. This made me a bit twitchy to return to, but I think it helped the listener to gain empathy while remembering our countries most recent time of stress.

Huge thank you to NetGalley for providing this audiobook!

Katherine Marsh has written a deeply heartfelt and enlightening middle grade book about the “holodomor” or death by hunger; a manmade famine created by Stalin and Soviet Russia in order to suppress any Ukrainian resistance against the Communist party. Millions of Ukrainians starved to death, as a result, between 1932-33.

Her story begins with main character Matthew, who amid the start of the 2020 Covid lockdowns discovers that his elderly great-grandmother, “GG” seems to have a secret that she holds close, refusing to ever talk about her past or her family. Told in alternating timelines between current day and flashbacks to 1933 Brooklyn, New York and 1933 Kiev, Ukraine; GG gradually reveals her story to Matthew about herself and her two cousins. Piece by piece, Matthew assembles a clearer story of these three young, fiery women, Mila, Nadiya, and Helen, the daily terror that accompanied living in occupied Ukraine as a “class enemy” during the Soviet regime, and the truth to his GG’s long-held secret.

This is a haunting, beautifully-written story for middle grade readers, about a lesser-known piece of history that will definitely appeal to children and adults alike that enjoyed "Refugee" by Alan Gratz and "Echo" by Pam Muñoz Ryan. On a more personal note, this story really resonated with me. It made me reflect upon my own great-grandparents, who were immigrants from Ukraine just before the first World War, and how lucky they were to get here. I also wonder about the family members they left behind in the old country and what became of them after the rise of the Communism and the Soviet Union.

There were a few directions taken by the author that I didn’t entirely like, but that’s personal disagreement on my part. She still told a genuinely beautiful story that deserves to be widely shared. The narration of the audiobook was fantastic, with particular props going to the narrator that portrayed Mila’s character. A solid 4.5/5 stars for this one!

Katherine Marsh has used her superb writing talent to shed light on the Holodomor (which means death by hunger) in 1930s Soviet Ukraine when Stalin attempted to solve the "Ukrainian problem" by starving them to death by the millions. The story is told from alternating viewpoints in the past and enclosed within a narrative from the perspective of Matt, an American kid in lockdown during the first months of covid. This is a timely book, given that the current dictator in Moscow is channeling Stalin and trying again to obliterate the Ukrainian nation and culture once again.

Thank you, Netgalley, for the audio review edition of this book.

The the last year by Katherine Marsh was a well-written and engaging preteen to teen story. The orator was easy to listen to and seem to invoke a lot of emotion into the story.

This book seems to take place pre-pandemic so about 20/20 and covers the lives of two preteens navigating the world.

It is a story of three cousins and their journey through time. It's an easy reader listen and I highly suggest picking up a copy.

What a compelling story! A sweeping story set across generations and continents, from 1930s Brooklyn and USSR to 2020 New Jersey, just months into the Covid-19 pandemic. This audiobook was fantastic! Christopher Gebauer expertly captures Matthew's moody attitude as he is stuck at home, not allowed to go out at all because his 100-year-old great-grandmother (GiGi) has moved in. He is missing his father, who is stuck in France, and feeling bitter until he is forced to help GiGi go through some old boxes. He discovers a photo that opens the door to learning more about his great-grandmother, his family, and even himself. Jesse Vilinsky's voice for Ukrainian Mila is perfect, and Anna Fikhman brings Helen's character to life as a young immigrant to America.
I had never heard of the Holodomor, or even the idea of a man-made famine. Katherine Marsh weaves the stories together in a stunning tapestry that elicits a wide range of emotions: horror, grief, and anger, as well as sympathy, amusement, and peaceful satisfaction. I love the hope-filled ending, the message that everyone's story matters, and that it's never too late to share your story.
I predict this book will be a Newbery contender for next year and will be on many lists. It is powerful, memorable, and thought-provoking.
Thank you NetGalley for the audiobook!