Under This Unbroken Sky

I have given this book to so many people and all share in the wonderful story that unfolds- characters are well developed, the place is vivid and the conflict incidious- A must read- may be one of my favorites of 09

(4.5 stars) The Great Plains around Willow Creek, Alberta, burgeon with new life in this dramatic family saga set in 1938. Two Ukrainian families who have escaped starvation during Stalin's "Ukrainian Holocaust" have made their way to Alberta, where they can, for ten dollars, gain the rights to 160 acres of virgin land. In the background leading to the main story here, Theo Mykolayenko, his wife, and four children (later five) have been swindled of their land by opportunists who made Theo sign a contract that he could not read, and his desperate actions after being evicted result in his arrest and imprisonment for two years. His devastated family moves into a small room attached to his sister Anna's cottage, staying alive by helping her. Anna's husband Stefan, who had been a dashing military officer in the Ukraine, has essentially abandoned his wife and two children for a life of drinking and carousing in town. The action of the novel begins with the return of Theo from jail, weakened, shrunken, and nearly frozen. Now responsible for his family of six, plus his sister and her two children, Theo is a driven farmer, working tirelessly, regardless of wind or weather. Because of Theo's "criminal record," he is prohibited from purchasing land, but his sympathetic sister Anna signs for the plot adjacent to her own on his behalf, and he assumes all the responsibilities for it. The decision of Anna's irresponsible husband Stefan to return home and take advantage of the "thriving" enterprise he sees developing there leads to family conflicts and resentments, which escalate and lead to the climax of the novel. Shandi Mitchell has created a novel which gives the term "melodrama" a good name. Though the heroic characters are extremely heroic and the villains are extremely villainous, her main characters are well drawn, their behavior understandable within the context of their lives. Her depiction of the children is especially true-to-life, providing delightful, lighter moments in the often bleak landscape of the novel. Through terrible fire dangers in the summer, and blizzards which begin in the early fall, the families persist, though issues arise which test each member to the breaking point. The leisurely pace of the narrative allows the author to create scenes of tenderness and beauty, but it also allows for scenes of dramatic and terrible import. Here Mitchell, a film-maker and screenwriter, captures the sights, sounds, and smells of the prairie, creating an atmosphere which even those who have never experienced farm life will understand and appreciate. The novel is not subtle, and it is often melodramatic, but it is undeniably moving, and it makes the reader empathize with those who have given so much of themselves to the tilling of the land and providing the food and crops on which life itself depends. Mary Whipple

In Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell, the reader is treated to a beautifully written debut novel which describes a slice of life of the Ukrainian immigrants in the northern plains of Canada. It is the spring of 1937, and Theo Mykolayenko returns to his wife and children after serving two years in jail for stealing his own grain. Theo stoically survived jail time by keeping his eyes on the prize of being free and owning his land. After all, wasn't Canada the land of the free? Maria, his wife, and children survived the years by living in Theo sister's shed and by pooling together their resources. Theo's sister, Anna, has secured an adjacent homestead for Theo, unbeknown to her abusive husband. Will Theo be able to forget the past injustices and keep his eye on the future? Why does Anna cohort with the coyotes and will she learn from their strength to resist letting her husband back into her life? Will Maria, with her soothing spirit, be able to mend her husband and her sister-in-law? Will the children of Theo and Anna be able to straddle both their Ukrainian past and Canadian future? This was an impressive novel that succeeded on many levels. The characters just came alive and will have the reader vested in their lives and feel their pain and joy of the vicissitudes of life. The description of the land and how unrelenting the elements were made Mother Nature a character in the book and you were rooting for this villainous character not to succeed in her attempt to break the spirit and resilience of the other characters. Tragedy was always looming, but to the credit of Shandi Mitchell's skill as a writer, I was not quite sure when it would happen or to whom. This was an excellent immigrant story which showed that the success of the immigrant was less about the immigrants will to succeed but more on how much the new country was willing to allow the immigrant to succeed, and how those in power would always make and change the rules to make sure that they stayed in power. I recommend this book to all fans of historical fiction. Reviewed by Beverly APOOO Bookclub September 6, 2009

As a child of the 1970s and 1980s, Little House on the Prairie (both the books and then the television series) provided formative entertainment for me. Still an avid reader, no story has quite managed to take me on such an all-consuming journey to another time and place as those inspired by Laura Ingalls Wilder ... until now. Set in the Canadian prairies of the late 1930s, Under This Unbroken Sky undulates with intensity and emotion, transporting its readers on a heartrending roller coaster that has them, in turns, aching with love and sympathy for its main characters then seething with hatred and contempt for them, and then back again. With vivid brushstrokes, author Shandi Mitchell paints a page-turning tale that enthralls from beginning to end. By literary voyage's completion, readers will have felt every bump and jostle of the wagon's trek across the land. Woven with wretched acts of God, familial betrayal and hell-bent revenge, Under This Unbroken Sky stays with you long after it is closed. It duly earns its spot as a Little House on the Prairie for grownups.

In the north Canadian prairie lands, Ukrainian immigrant Teodor Mykolayenko was sent to prison for two years for `stealing' grain that he cultivated. When his family, which includes five children, could not pay for their land, they had to vacate it despite all of the work already done on it. When Teodor tried to take some of the grain to replant somewhere else in order to give his family the start they needed, he was imprisoned for theft. With him gone, his family had no choice but to make ends meet the best way possible. Though it was a struggle, his wife Maria managed. Unable to own property as a criminal, Teodor's sister Anna purchased land with the promise that she would sign over his portion to him. Finally home after his two year sentence, where the book begins, Teodor wants to pick up where he left off with his family, gain ownership of his land through Anna, and build a great home to take care of his wife and children properly. He wants the pride of being able to call something his. Sister Anna is coming apart just as Teodor tries to mend everything. Pregnant with her third child, a child of rape by her drunken and often absent husband Stefan, she feels a kinship to the wild coyotes that roam the Canadian wild lands. With every howl she hears at night, she recognizes a freedom that has always been denied her. It is hard for Anna to adapt, to accept what life has given her, but Teodor wants all of them to have the best. Things get even worse for Anna when Stefan returns. Desperate to keep him, she sacrifices the love her brother has for her. Because Stefan says so, she submits to allowing him to try to take the land that Teodor has settled on because he has no legal right to it. Anna is willing to forsake her promise and her loyalty to Teodor because she does not want her and her two children to be alone. By the end, everything has come apart. People lose their lives, dreams are shattered, and a wounded family has to once again pick up and start all over again. There is no way to say this other than that I love this book. I honestly could not and did not put it down until it was finished. My boyfriend and I went out for a while when I started this book, but all I wanted to do was come home and keep reading. Under This Unbroken Sky is beautifully written and painfully vivid. The descriptions of the Canadian prairie and of the rough, desolate farming conditions are as lovely as they are striking. Each and every character is brilliantly developed and complex. You feel for young Sophie and her desire to be beautiful and rich. You love the innocence in Ivan and his moments of childish selflessness. You respect the strength in Maria and her desire to keep everything together for the sake of her children. And most of all, you can feel just how much Teodor wants his family to be happy. Every day, he goes out to the fields to sweat and toil, and it is all for them. The way Teodor understands and appreciates the land