Strong Roots : A Ukrainian Family Story of War, Exile and Hope by Olia Hercules SIGNED COPY

'An instant classic' NIGELLA LAWSON'Sweeping, intimate, defiant and brimming with love' LOUISE KENNEDY 'It is the roots that keep the trees from falling during a storm. Olia Hercules tells us that the same is true for people and nations' SERHII PLOKHY

I am writing this story without knowing its end: it begins long before I was born and will continue long after I die. I am writing this story to help myself heal and to make you understand.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ukrainian chef Olia Hercules decided it was finally time to tell her story. Strong Roots is the story of a century in Ukraine told through four generations of one extraordinary family. It takes us from years of Russification, to Olia’s grandmother’s deportation to snowy wastelands under Stalin, to her Aunt Zhenia's school protest, to her own parents’ flight from Ukraine when their town was occupied in 2022.

This is an ode to the land, to ideas of home and belonging, and to family stories and recipes passed down the generations – the tang of sour cherries, the best way to make borsch. It is an account of resilience in the hardest of circumstances. Strong Roots brims with hope and grief.

It lays bare the compromises and betrayals of generations struggling and surviving through war, peace, invasion and exile. It is an uplifting reminder of how much the human spirit can endure when born from a land rich with strong roots.

Format:Hardback 288 pages
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN:9781526662927
Published:19 Jun 2025
Classifications:Memoirs, True war & combat stories, Other warfare & defence issues
Weight:392g