Heather’s Bookshelf: The Drau River Flows to Siberia: The Victims of Victory
Author: Marina Osipova
Released: 10/25/23
Genre: Historical Fiction
“Life? She remembers a shadow of something profoundly painful in his gaze, making her believe he is different, not like others who wore the same uniform. Those others had sentenced her, treated her harshly, and a year ago released her into a world she had forgotten how to deal with.”
“The Victims of Victory” takes place and is based on true events during WWII. The story introduces Anna in 1955 Siberia who happens across a familiar good Samaritan intent to hear her story. Anna’s story starts in 1941, at age 16, aspiring against her family’s wishes to pursue a career as an operetta actress.
The war is brought to her doorstep when she’s visiting her Aunt while on summer break. When her mother goes missing, she’s convinced to leave for Germany. After a terrible trek, she makes it to her destination to be auctioned as a slave worker for a German family.
Anna tells her story to Zakhary who has also experienced some terrible and challenging war-time events. Intertwined with Anna’s storytelling, Zakhary flashes back to the horrible things that have occurred in his past.
Initially against the war, Zakhary ends up fighting alongside the Germans until he finds Marishka. The two soon fall in love and are married. But the war, even when officially finished, continues to ruin more lives than even seems possible. Will Anna and Zakhary be able to move forward or will their past continue to haunt them?
Trigger Warning: violence, war-related crimes, references to WWII including Nazi-ism, sexual assault, murder (including children), miscarriage, animal death, reference to sexual assault
Overall, I found this to be a well-written and researched book. This historical fiction is told through two POVs- Anna’s (as she shares her story with Zakhary) and Zakhary’s (as he flashes back on his past events). The content and time period of the story insinuate that this will not be a light and lovely tale and the author does not deviate from this expectation. The story is dark and the worst imaginable things happen at the hands of people who seemingly thrive on the misery of others. This is why the portion where Anna was on the farm in Austria stood out the most. The little bits of kindness and hope shined through and really pushed the story forward. Unfortunately, the pacing of the remainder of the story was much slower and the combination of the pacing and the content was challenging to read more than a few pages at a time. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to find out how Anna and Zakhary got to where they were and survived. I felt invested in both of the characters and what they had been through. The final subtitle announcing the POV moved me and the epilogue was near perfect. The epilogue made sense in both the timeline and content. It added so much to the story and wrapped everything up nicely. I was glad to have what felt like resolution for storylines related to the two main characters.
I received a copy of this story in exchange of a fair and honest review.
OVERALL REVIEW:
A historical fiction following two POVs and their horrible experiences during and following WWII. Well written and with an excellent ending, the pacing was inconsistent.
Want to learn more about the author?
Check out my interview with Marina Osipova
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