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Strong Roots

A Ukrainian Family Story, Interrupted

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Strong Roots

By: Olia Hercules
Narrated by: Olia Hercules
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Bloomsbury presents Strong Roots, written and read by Olia Hercules, featuring original music performed by Cats & Bats and Olia Hercules.

'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.

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.©2025 Olia Hercules (P)2025 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Cultural & Regional Europe Military Feel-Good War
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Critic reviews

I was completely pole-axed by this. It’s a breathtaking achievement to depict such pain so exquisitely. And it’s strikingly sui generis. Olia Hercules deftly fuses war reporting, food memoir, an investigation into identity and an act of resistance to create what I feel compelled to describe as a painting out of words. An instant classic (Nigella Lawson)
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. It is the roots of culture and dignity that make them unbreakable at the time of war and peace, in Ukraine and beyond (Serhii Plokhy, author of CHERNOBYL ROULETTE: A WAR STORY and THE RUSSO-UKRAINIAN WAR)
Olia Hercules is a beautiful writer. So attuned to the sensual details of the world. Very raw, very honest, in a way I appreciated a lot. And all the ingredients – personal stories, historical context, trauma and hope are so finely balanced. It deserves to be read and admired far and wide (Charlie Gilmour, author of FEATHERHOOD)
Only Olia Hercules could write such a cinematic and brave-hearted book examining what it is to live as a Ukrainian family at a time of unimaginable horrors and yet on every page the reader finds grace, strength, and occasionally the sting of dark Ukrainian humour. Strong Roots manages the near impossible: it is both a deeply personal book and a vital historical record (Caroline Eden)
Bittersweet, life-affirming and devastating all at the same time. I read the entire book with a lump in my throat. Olia has written an exquisite and unforgettable book (Mel Giedroyc)
Fiery, tender, deeply personal, how else to explain the importance of this unflinching account by an acclaimed food-writer - cook, mother, daughter, grandchild - of a people and place in a land under siege? Intimate, moving and brilliantly written, every page is a treasure-trove of memories - her own, her family's, and through listening to the experience of others. Here, in all its beauty and sorrow, is the story of Ukraine as it is, and was, and surely will be again. Unforgettable (Elisabeth Luard)
A searing, magnificent work. Poetic, personal, and raw. An exploration of what it means to be Ukrainian and to be defiant (Andrew Harding, BBC correspondent and author of A SMALL, STUBBORN TOWN)
Sweeping, intimate, defiant and brimming with love. An exceptional work by a writer of enviable gifts (Louise Kennedy, author of TRESPASSES)
Hercules is a remarkable writer and this is a stunningly beautiful book that moved me to the core (Merlin Sheldrake, author of ENTANGLED LIFE)
All stars
Most relevant
Family is so important past is so important. I loved the music in between the chapters

Incredible how u have all survived. Learnt a lot. Take care. U r so precious

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Ґероям Слава! дякую... Thank you for sharing the story of your roots, so we can understand more.

Слава Україні

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written for modern audiences, Ukraine explored from deep personal history of food, family, culture and identity.

New classic, engaging storytelling.

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Oh the ache of it. The warmth. She speaks and I’m there, flour on hands, garlic on breath, the matka stirring. Not just food, no. Family, country, loss. The rhythm of remembering. Her voice – low, sure – carries me back and forward, folding grief into dough. Ukraine not a place now, but a pulse. What she’s lost, what she’s held. I felt it. In the chest, in the belly. Not a recipe book. A life, eaten.

Strong Roots – A Feast of Memory

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Olia speaks with such lyricism you can almost taste the food and smell the surroundings she’s describing. A combination of Ukrainian history and family stories, this book gives you a glimpse of the heart wrenching pain caused by the forced displacement from your ancestral home . It’s also funny, warm and I cannot recommend it enough. May you all get to go home again

Fascinating, beautiful and moving

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