My thoughts: What a novel!!!! Truly I cannot do the book justice. It’s an incredible read from cover to cover. I am not surprised–I’d expect nothing less from Skrypuch. She excels at everything–writing, plotting, characterization. But it is the characterization that particularly wows me every time. Because though it shouldn’t be rare, it mostly is. The depth of characterization is outstanding. It isn’t just that there’s depth and substance of the main character, but it is how expansive the characterization is. There’s no shortcuts, no character too small to not get treated as important. It makes it impossible not to get invested and thoroughly absorbed in the story.
It was a pleasure to speak with Sérgio at brant blog dot ca about my brand new book, Under Attack. Thanks so much for the interview!
Canadian-Ukrainian author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch is no stranger to exploring difficult topics. Her latest novel, Under Attack, launched this week as the first installment in her new Kidnapped From Ukraine tackles themes of war, displacement, and survival through the eyes of a 12-year-old girl.
Set in Mariupol, Ukraine, Under Attack begins on the first day of the Russian invasion. It follows a family torn apart as bombs fall and chaos spreads. The story unfolds with twin girls and their parents separated during an attack. The narrative focuses on the mother and one daughter’s harrowing experience surviving in a basement during the siege before being captured, forced through filtration camps, and separated. The girl ends up in a re-education in Russia and placed in a Russian home.
Skrypuch, who lives in Brantford, will launch Under Attack with a public appearance at Riverside Bookshelf in Paris, Ontario, on Thursday, January 16, 2025, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. She has also offered to do a presentation at the Paris branch of the Brant Public Library for for local schools about the importance of historical accuracy and empathy in storytelling.
Reflecting on her writing journey, Skrypuch remains committed to uncovering untold stories and amplifying marginalized voices.
“Empathy and awareness are the keys to change,” she said. “If this book can help even one reader understand the reality of war and inspire them to care, then it’s done its job.”
While the book is fictional, Skrypuch says that its events are firmly grounded in historical accuracy and documented accounts.
“This is a novel, but everything that happens in it is true,” Skrypuch said. “I’ve created fictional characters, but the events described are based on publicly available testimonies, including those presented to the International Criminal Court, which has charged Putin with war crimes.”
Skrypuch’s decision to write the series was not made lightly. Initially hesitant, she was approached multiple times by her publisher, Scholastic, to tackle the ongoing conflict. Eventually, she recognized the urgency of the story.
“I was discouraged by all the disinformation circulating about Ukraine,” she explained. “I felt I had the responsibility and the platform to tell this story accurately. So I set aside the book I was working on and plunged into this trilogy.”
A veteran author, Skrypuch, from Brantford, has made a career of highlighting overlooked stories from history, many focusing on Ukraine. Her first book, Silver Threads (1996), addressed Ukrainian internment in Canada during World War I, while Enough (2000) was the first commercially published children’s book about the Holodomor—Stalin’s forced famine that killed millions of Ukrainians in the 1930s.
Addressing these sensitive topics has often come at a personal cost. Skrypuch received death threats following the publication of Enough, and in 2022 in response to the publication of Winterkill, her novel set during the Holodomor, she was officially banned from Russia.
“I consider being banned for life by Russia an honor,” she said. “I’ve faced backlash before, but I believe in telling the truth about history.”
Her new trilogy continues this mission, focusing on Ukraine’s current struggles. The research process was both rigorous and deliberate. Skrypuch avoided using personal stories shared by refugees she met, relying instead on documented evidence to avoid appropriating their experiences.
“I’ve spoken to many refugees who have hugged me and told me their stories, but I don’t have the right to write them into my books,” she said. “Their stories are still ongoing, and this war is still happening.”
Instead, Skrypuch immersed herself in news reports, legal testimonies, and published survivor interviews to craft her narrative.
Empathy is central to her work. Skrypuch hopes Under Attack will raise awareness about the stakes of the ongoing conflict.
“I want readers to see Ukrainians as people, not statistics,” she said. “It’s easy to ignore distant wars when you don’t see the human cost. But history shows that ignoring injustices allows them to spread.”
The Kidnapped From Ukraine trilogy is aimed at readers aged 10–14, but Skrypuch believes it will resonate with adults as well.
“I write from the perspective of a 12-year-old because that’s my inner voice,” she said. “But the themes—family, survival, and hope—are universal.”
The second book in the series, Standoff, is set for release on October 7, 2025, followed by the third, Still Alive, on January 7, 2026. Skrypuch wrote all three in record time, completing the manuscripts within two years of the Russian invasion.
“This was the fastest I’ve ever written,” she said. “I felt the urgency to tell these stories while the events were still unfolding.”
Under Attack will be published tomorrow, but I got to do two presentations at one of my all-time favorite schools — Riverside Elementary in Suwanee GA with one of my all-time favorite library media specialists, Kristin Bartholomew!! The students were absolutely fabulous and it was a great way to kick off 2025.
Just yesterday, Yale released their findings about Russia’s extensive kidnapping of Ukrainian kids. My novel, Kidnapped from Ukraine: Under Attack is about that crime. It will be published in January.
A reader emailed me today with a question that all writers get asked all the time, but this reader was so polite and thoughtful by the way he asked, that I’m sharing both Q and the A:
Q:
Dear Marsha,
I really enjoy your books. I’m currently reading “The War Below,” and I really admire your writing. You make your work come alive, and I can visualize every little bit in my head.
I have considered writing a novel of my own, and I’ve decided I am going to do it. But there is one problem, and that is that I cannot think of an idea.
Did you ever experience writer’s block? If you did, I was wondering how you thought of ideas. I would really love your help.
Thank you very much, and I love your work.
A:
Dear __,
A really good way of getting ideas is by talking to people about their lives. I asked a lot of questions of all of my grandparents, my parents and my husband’s parents. That kickstarted a lot of my stories. I also ask a lot of questions when I meet someone new. I want to know what it would be like to be them. To be a writer, you need to be able to step into another person’s (actually, many different people’s) shoes and figure out what it would be like to be them on a day to day basis.
You generally can’t just start asking a total stranger to tell you everything about them, but you’ll be amazed by what you learn by asking open ended questions and just listening. People who have lived through war or trauma often have a world of story bottled up inside but you can’t just come out and ask them. I like to get around it sideways. For example, if I’m talking to someone much older than myself or from a different cultural background, I ask them something about their past that will evoke a comfortable memory, like the first day of school, or a memorable celebration. Their anecdotes about that can give you ideas for other questions.
That’s not all there is to writing a book, but that’s a way to get some ideas. You may have noticed that a lot of writers are not big talkers, and that’s because they’re asking questions and listening.
Very thrilled that Jennifer Jill Araya has been nominated for a SOVAS award for her voice performance of my Holodomor short story, The Rings, which is part of the Ukraine Relief Anthology, A Word is not a Sparrow. Congratulations to Jennifer Jill and all of the voice performers and authors who donated their time and expertise to this Ukraine relief project.
