STRONG ROOTS

An instant classic NIGELLA LAWSON Sweeping intimate defiant and brimming with love LOUISE KENNEDY It is the roots that keep the trees from falling during a storm Olia Hercules tells us that the same is true for people and nations SERHII PLOKHY I am writing this story without knowing its end it begins long before I was born and will continue long after I die I am writing this story to help myself heal and to make you understand When Russia launched its full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 Ukrainian chef Olia Hercules decided it was finally time to tell her story Strong Roots is the story of a century in Ukraine told through four generations of one extraordinary family It takes us from years of Russification to Olia s grandmother s deportation to snowy wastelands under Stalin to her Aunt Zhenia s school protest to her own parents flight from Ukraine when their town was occupied in 2022 This is an ode to the land to ideas of home and belonging and to family stories and recipes passed down the generations the tang of sour cherries the best way to make borsch It is an account of resilience in the hardest of circumstances Strong Roots brims with hope and grief It lays bare the compromises and betrayals of generations struggling and survivin