Linden and the Oak
by
Mark Wansa
historical fiction
I don't know much about Rusyns, so I thought I would read this historical fiction book and find out some more. Rusyns are an ethnic group found around the Carpathian mountains. They are definitely Slavic, but their language and customs are not exactly Russian, not exactly Ukrainian, not exactly Polish or Slovak. This epic novel follows a family of Rusyns through the harsh time of World War I. Many Eastern Europeans have fled to America for a better life. Some of them have come back with the money they made in America. The names and the native words thrown in to this novel make it seem very foreign. It is a hefty 550 pages long, but the writing is not complicated and the main characters are simple peasants used to simple country ways, church rites, and superstitions. It is the world around them that is crazy! The author does a good job re-creating the setting of yesteryear and showing how the people feel and act.
If you are looking for something different to read, this is certainly not like anything on the 2010 New York Times best seller list and it is not widely held in libraries, but some public libraries and college libraries who serve large populations of Eastern European immigrants and descendants have added this to their collections.
