Book: Katya

Author: Sandra Birdsell

Review:  This was an interesting story of Katya, who is a young girl growing up in a Mennonite farming community in the steppes of Russia.  Apparently, Russia was one of the places that Mennonites fled to due to religous oppression in Germany.  They became very successful, which put them in a bad situation once World War One started, and then the Russian Revolution.  Katya's father is the overseer of Privol'Noye plantation.  She has an older sister and 3 little brothers and later a baby sister.  Her father is somewhat cheated by the owner, he is not given promised land, and his children have to start working in exchange for an education that was previously free.  Things go from bad to worse, once the revolution starts.  The peasants come in and take over the plantation, it is horrible that they waste all the stored food and shoot the milk cows, rather than making an effort to take care of the land.  Then a killing frenzy starts, Katya is able to escape with her little sister Sara.  Eventually, she is able to immigrate to Canada, where she grows old, and tells her story to a young man.

I love books where I get to learn new things.