Katherine Marsh will be visiting
Black Rock Middle School on March 27, 2023
About the Author
Katherine Marsh is an award-winning author of novels for middle-grade readers including The Lost Year (coming January 2023!); Nowhere Boy, winner of the Middle East Book Award; The Night Tourist, winner of the Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery; Jepp, Who Defied the Stars, a New York Times Notable; and The Door By The Staircase, a Junior Library Guild selection.
Katherine grew up in Yonkers, New York in the home of her Ukrainian grandma who taught her to love stories and borscht. A former journalist and managing editor of The New Republic, Katherine lives in Washington, DC with her husband, two children and an astonishing array of pets.
About the Book
Thirteen-year-old Matthew is miserable. His journalist dad is stuck overseas indefinitely, and his mom has moved in with his one-hundred-year-old great-grandmother to ride out the Covid pandemic, adding to his stress and isolation. But when Matthew finds a tattered black-and-white photo in his great-grandmother’s belongings, he discovers a clue to a hidden chapter of her past—one that will lead to a life-shattering family secret.
Set in alternating timelines that connect the present day to the 1930s and the US to the USSR, Katherine Marsh’s latest novel sheds fresh light on the Holodomor—the horrific famine that killed millions of Ukrainians, which the Soviet government covered up for decades.
Inspired by Marsh’s own family history, The Lost Year is an incredibly timely, page-turning story of family, survival, and sacrifice.
A Junior Library Guild selection
Praise
“Katherine Marsh has beautifully woven a gripping tale covering both the Stalin-orchestrated Ukraine famine in 1932 and the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. Marsh shows us how deeply connected we are to our past and that in the middle of a societal crisis where disinformation is rampant, the ultimate truth can be found in the relationships we hold dear. It will break your heart and put it back together again. A must-read especially for these times.” —Veera Hiranandani, Newbery Honor-winning author of The Night Diary
“Marsh’s intertwining narratives ground the story of the Holodomor—which affected her own family—within a historical framework while leading up to a completely believable and emotionally powerful conclusion. A strong subplot discusses journalistic integrity and how one powerful man managed to keep the truth of the Holodomor hidden for years. A moving presentation of a long-suppressed piece of history.” —Kirkus
“The fairly lengthy middle-grade rewards readers with a nimble twist and satisfying ending and has an obvious urgency in light of current geopolitics. A natural selection for fans of Alan Gratz and a stepping stone to the work of Ruta Sepetys, this sobering and important story will be an excellent addition to classroom and library collections.” –Booklist, starred review