The Lost Year

by Katherine Marsh

Key information

Overview

The Lost Year is a beautifully entwined story of thirteen-year-old Matthew and his hundred-year-old great-grandmother, GG, told in alternating timelines between 1930s USSR and present day. 

Set during the peak of the Covid pandemic, Matthew is isolated with him mum and great-grandmother (GG) while his father is away for work. To pass time, Matthew begins sorting through GG's belongings and is shocked when he discovers a black-and-white photograph from her youth. But GG is adamant that she will not share the stories of her past, leaving him no choice but to do some digging of his own. Before long, Matthew has earned GG's trust and she begins to share snippets of her past, but nothing can prepare him for the life-shattering secrets that she has hidden from her family. GG's story takes Matthew on a journey back in time to 1930s USSR during the Holodomor; a man-made famine that killed millions of innocent people.

The book is structured around the narration of two protagonists Helen (Yelena) and Mila (Milachka) who take turns to share their story of the Holodomor. Interspersed between these narrations are short chapters narrated by Matthew, leaping forward in time to the Covid pandemic.

Between the stories of Helen and Mila, we learn of families killed by the man-made famine and children left to starve as orphans on the streets. After losing her family, she travelled to a distant relatives house, seeking refuge and shelter. However, when her distant family refuse to help her, she is turned away from safety and towards the orphanage. 

Despite her uncle's ignorance, her cousin sympathises with a starved and homeless GG and makes an agreement to help her even if her father wouldn't. Over time, the two children grow closer and begin to spend time together in secret. Soon, a piano teacher takes young GG in and hides her from officials. However, disaster strikes when someone betrays their trust and reports that young GG is being hidden. After a chain of devastating events, both young girls find themselves in an orphanage that is riddled with illness and disease. 

GG continues to tell of how she and her cousin presented themselves as twins to the rest of the world, hoping that this would keep them together. After a short time at the orphanage, GG finds herself alone again. However, hope is not lost as she receives a message from a distant relative in America who plans to rescue her from the orphanage and welcome her into their family. This is the escape that GG needs and she leaves her old life behind to start a fresh with her new family, although the heart-breaking loss and haunting secrets never leave her. 

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