WHEN:

Wednesday, April 12 at 6:45 PM – 9 PM

WHERE:

49 Linden gardens, London

Admission:

Free

An opportunity to meet the author, Maria Dziedzan, who will be launching her second novel in the “My lost Country” series.

Maria Dziedzan about herself:

I was born in 1951 in Grimsby, England to a Ukrainian father and a Welsh mother. A very fiery mix! When I was four years old, we moved to Nottingham where there was a Ukrainian community, my Dad wanting me to grow up surrounded by his fellow countrymen…and other exiled family members. So I now had Ukrainian aunts and uncles as well as my Welsh grandmother and her huge family. Our family’s social life was dominated by two things: Ukrainian activities and letters from “home”. Yes, it was always called that even though it wasn’t mine, or my sister’s home…but it was our father’s. And his longing for the woods and fields of his childhood, not to speak of his longing for his mother and sister, were palpable.

Read more about Maria Dziedzan here.

About the book from one of Amazon reviews:

The second of Maria Dziedzan’s ‘ My Lost Country’ trilogy ‘ Driven Into Exile’ is a gripping read , an exemplary piece of Historical research and has poetic lines that capture the raw emotions of loss and longing. Exiled from her Ukrainian village to work for a German family as a nanny the main character Natalya must endure many tense episodes before a decline in the German army’s fortunes sees her moved on to the UNRRA camp for displaced persons. Natalya and many like her dare not return home for fear of being exiled to Siberia by the Russian occupiers. Maria Dziedzan subtly invites us to examine the freedoms we take for granted through the simple heartfelt yearnings of Natalya.