Irene Zabytko's novel, The Sky Unwashed, is set in the Ukraine at the time of the Chernobyl disaster. Marusia is an old widow who lives with her son and daughter-in-law and their two children; Yurko, her son, and Zosia, his wife, both work at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, like so many of the villagers. Zabytko's novel looks at the disaster not from the immediate site but from the periphery leading edge--Marusia sees the family's and village's evacuation from the area in the chaos of Soviet bureaucracy, the radiation poisoning and subsidiary problems in her son that cause his death, the loss of her focus. And her return to her village, and the return of other old women, is interesting.
Though I picked this just to get a Z author, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm fascinated by the healing of the area. I would heartily recommend the presentation of Swarthmore alum Mike Rothbart who photographed the area.
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