MJ KRAUSE-CHIVERS
HISTORICAL Fiction Author
Writing historical Fiction
about Ukraine
1915-1922
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MJ Krause-Chivers, award-winning fiction author writes historical fiction set in Ukraine, Germany, and Canada.
The author is a PTSD survivor and the grandchild of Mennonite refugees who fled southern Ukraine during the Russian Civil War (1917-1922).
Following the Crimean invasion in 2014, the author visited her ancestral grounds in southern Ukraine. There, she was inspired to write a fictional series based on her grandparents' escape from Soviet Ukraine.
The saga follows the history of the ethnic German Mennonites who were expelled from Soviet Russia while exposing the culture and politics of the era.
Samples of the author's writing can be found at her story origin site at https://www.mirandajchivers.com/Freebies
MJ Krause-Chivers is the fiction stream for Christian author Miranda J. Chivers. All her books can be found on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/stores/Miranda-J.-Chivers/author/B0791MGZP7
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1951: Germany: Peter finds his adopted mother's Russian diaries in the Munich rubble after WW2. Realizing their historical value, he approaches an editor for advice. While translating the books, unresolved grief rises to the surface. Peter yearns to know the truth about Katarina's death.
1917, Ukraine: Katarina, a Mennonite girl living in southern Ukraine, comes of age at the beginning of the Russian Civil War. A dreamer with a rebellious streak, Katarina fantasizes about leaving the religious community and traveling the world. But when the political landscape in Russia begins to change, Katarina is faced with the choice of emigrating without her family. Leaving means never seeing her family again. What is a seventeen-year-old girl supposed to do?
Themes: conservative religion, Mennonites, Ukraine, grief, loss, trauma, emigration, politics, history, Christianity
An introduction to the historical, political, and cultural background of the Mennonite people living in southern Ukraine at the beginning of the Russian Civil War.
Book Two: 1952:
1952: Germany: Peter receives a special gift from his deceased father's friend. Already overwhelmed by his wife's pregnancy, the gift triggers unhappy memories and he spirals into depression. He seeks solace in Katarina's diaries only to uncover more questions about his parents' pasts.
1918, Ukraine: After the Bolsheviks set fire to their villages, Katarina and her pregnant sister, Anna, flee across the wintery barren steppes. Anna's pregnancy hangs in the balance while nefarious characters and difficult circumstances disrupt their travel.
Themes: trauma, grief, pregnancy, miscarriage, death, war, Ukraine history, ethnic Germans in Russia, politics, rape, Christianity.
This book can be read as a stand-alone, but it is best to read book one to fully understand the culture and the history.
2023 Readers' Favorites Gold Medal winner.
Fourteen global authors joined together to create an anthology to support the children of war in Ukraine.
All sale proceeds of Children of War supports Voices of Children Ukraine — a charity to help the children of war in Ukraine heal from the trauma of war and displacement.
MJ Krause-Chivers is the sole Canadian writer included in this anthology, and her story Through Vira's Eyes is the featured first story.
Through Vira's Eyes: a five-year-old girl copes with her war trauma by trusting her guardian angels while she and her young friend flee a bunker in Ukraine for the safety of the displacement camp across the river.