The Coastal Buzz
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MAY 2022
A Tale of Three Generations Calabash Author Spins Story of Ukraine By Joan Leotta
T
his year I’ve read more than thirty novels and works of nonfiction, and Sunflowers Beneath the Snow, a saga of three generations of women written by Calabash’s own Teri M. Brown, is the best book I’ve read this year. Brown weaves her tale around their lives in Ukraine and the journey that one of them, Ionna, makes to the United States. The characters, especially the three primary females, are well-defined. You will not want to put the book
down until you’ve finished this compelling story. The tale weaves together a Ukrainian rebel and three generations of women who bear the consequences. Betrayal and political upheaval are handed down the generations. The story explores the tenacity of women in grueling circumstances who experience all the good things life has to offer: compassion, joy, love, faith, and wonder. Written before the current war in Ukraine, the setting reflects a
A remembered snippet of a story inspired Calabash author Teri M. Brown to weave a tale of three genera ons, set in Ukraine. The book was wri en before the current war in Ukraine but it reflects the pressures of life and poli cs that have endured there for many years.
relationship with Russia that wants to subsume Ukraine and wipe out its individualistic culture. It offers insights into the conflict now erupting and reveals ways in which women assert their self-worth and discover how resilient and powerful they can be.
The Path to a Novel Although she wanted to become a fiction writer since childhood,
