''An instant classic'' NIGELLA LAWSON
''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 s
