Irene Zabytko

Luba lives with her parents in a Chicago neighborhood full of others like themselves-immigrants from Ukraine. Her parents want only two things: to enjoy a new life in America and to hold on to the old ways-the church, the language, the traditions-of Ukrainian culture. They want these things for Luba, too. Luba wants only the first part of their wish. She wants to leave her neighborhood-not to mention Ukraine-behind. It's 1968, and protesting American students have taken to the city streets. Thinking that it's time she breaks step with her heritage and gets into step with her peers, Luba registers as Linda on the first day at her commuter college. Then she buys a second-hand car to drive into a future far from her parent's Wheat Street home. The car must, however, first carry her father to his doctor's appointments, a Ukrainian celebrity to her featured appearances, a dying neighbor home from work, and her lifelong buddies to school and back. Somewhere along the way, Linda takes a backseat and Luba takes the wheel, finding a new road to a destination somewhere between Ukraine and America. In WHEN LUBA LEAVES HOME, award-winning author Irene Zabytko creates a bright new voice to tell the classic story of how the children of America's melting pot grow up strong enough to carry their double identities.

Marusia, in her seventies, is the matriarch of the Petrenko family. She has lived and worked all her life in Starylis, a tiny town in rural Ukraine. Starylis is a place where families still live in the ancient thatched-roof cottages that have been their homes for generations. It's a place where everyone grows their own vegetables, where the old women (the babas) sweep the church steps daily and bake bread in outdoor communal clay ovens. It's a place where everyone knows everyone else, and everyone else's business. It's a little town just down the road from Chernobyl. On April 26, 1986, the lives of Marusia, her family, and her townspeople change forever. The air begins to taste strange, the workers don't come home from their shifts at the nearby power plant. Eventually the Soviet government orders a mandatory and permanent evacuation. But less than a year after the accident, a handful of elderly women - the first of whom is Marusia - defy the government prohibition and return, one by one, to their now deserted town. Despite their differences and their losses, they band together for survival, companionship, and to confront the Soviet officials responsible for their fate. This is a tale of ordinary citizens who, when faced with extraordinary circumstances, become the most unexpected heroes. Inspired by a true incident and transformed by the talents of a remarkable young writer, The Sky Unwashed is a simple story told with gentle humor that redefines our notions of home and community.