As I write, Russian troops are invading the independent nation of Ukraine. This backdrop compelled me to hurry up to read this book for insight into the current conflict, and I am glad I did. It tells a complex tale of three generations of Ukrainian women trying to make a life amidst international strife. The coincidences are stultifying, but the author claims that the general narrative is true. The story reminds us of the enduring power of faith and family, the potential for good in human relationships, the need for undying perseverance and hope, and the impact of geopolitics on the life of individuals.
The story begins in 1973 as a father is whisked away from his family for spying on the USSR in the Soviet Republic of the Ukraine. Neither he nor his immediate family would learn of the other’s true fate as he was relocated in England. Instead, each side was told a fiction about the other’s death. Nonetheless, their individual stories live on in Brown’s slowly building narrative.
The mother and her only daughter survived near-starvation. Growing up, the daughter eventually secures an education and a job as a scientist at a university. She meets and marries a university professor who has silent sympathies towards capitalism, the West, and a Christian faith. They have one daughter who eventually ends up in America for a summer project. At this point, Russian military action against the Crimean Peninsula commences in 2014, and the plot – filled with coincidences and even a sense of providence – takes off towards a resolution from there.
This story is definitely sympathetic to the plight of Ukrainian nationalism and cynical about Russian intentions. It gave me additional insight into the geopolitical situation on the ground and how political and historical animosities impacted individuals. Thus, this work is timely and can be read as a preface to the stories we now see on the news. It will lend understanding into current events for those who may not have closely followed recent history.
But that is not all this story consists of. It reminds me of how the flames of faith continued to burn in the hearts of those under the “godless” rule of Soviet communism. It bespeaks of a nobility of being human and a dignified goodness about our lives interwoven from global politics to personal circumstance. In this narrative, the religious element plays an essential spark to these traits, but is not overbearing. The book is pro-faith, but not an evangelization. Readers need not be organizationally religious to appreciate Brown’s narrative, but an openness to some kind of “higher power” is, I think, necessary in order not to fight it. Religious and spiritual readers will love it, and I hope it will achieve some kind of following on the margins as well. The deft and hopeful storytelling encourages us to persevere in openness to what tomorrow might offer.
Sunflowers Beneath the Snow
By Teri M. Brown
Copyright (c) 2022
Atmosphere Press
ISBN13 9781639881420
Page Count: 332
Genre: Historical Fiction
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