Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 12/01/2024 When a bomb slams into their apartment building in Mariupol on the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 12-year-old Dariia and her mom are separated from her dad and her twin sister, Rada. Surrounded by death and destruction, Dariia and Mom shelter in a dank basement under constant bombardment for six weeks. An escape attempt leads to being captured and interrogated, and Dariia is designated an official orphan, since her mother is deemed an unfit parent. Dariia is shipped off to an orphanage deep within Russia, a quasi concentration camp where she’s fed and sheltered but also subjected to endless pro-Russian propaganda. Dariia is eventually adopted by a woman who’s only interested in Dariia’s government monthly stipend. The woman’s son, Anton, turns out to be an unexpected ally, and Dariia eventually reunites with her mom and sister in a refugee camp in the Carpathian Mountains, though her dad remains a prisoner of war. This action-packed novel is a realistic, timely, and grim political indictment of the Russian persecution of the Ukrainian people. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.