Oxana and the Red Dress

Oxana and the Red Dress is a richly layered, multi-generational story of love, passion, and war set against the background of rural Ukraine in the 1930s, the ensuing Bolshevik political repression, and the early days of World War II.

Oxana Nikolaevna Stepaniaka is a beautiful and talented musician who dreams of escaping her Ukrainian village to become a concert pianist. Finally able to attend the Odesa Academy of Music, she finds her hopes of continuing her education destroyed by political forces and is forced to return home. Pregnant and married to a brutal man she doesn't love, Oxana is eventually caught up in the Soviet Union's repressive collectivization of agriculture. With everyone in her world succumbing to starvation during the man-made Holodomor (Death by Hunger), Oxana and her son make a frightening journey—first to Odesa, and ultimately to Leningrad during the early days of the Nazi siege.

Readers will easily fall under the spell of this deeply drawn saga at whose heart lies the beauty of taboo love and the strength that arises out of shattered dreams. Oxana will linger in the memory of all who meet her.

389 Pages