The Woman at the Gates
This is a novel of personal resistance: against a totalitarian regime, an invasion, an oppressive occupation, as well as fellow citizens who also have their own shifting loyalties based on contemporary experiences. It is also resistance against oneself and the constant doubts that can deflect from positive action. “Strange how cheering in ecstasy appeared to use the same muscles as were required to scream in fury.”
Antonia is the epitome of a citizen with a single overarching dream: independence for her homeland, Ukraine, from Russia. During the subsequent German occupation, she struggles through the complex and layered landscape that is the barbarity of World War Two to keep her personal and national dreams alive during capture, interrogation, torture, internment camp life, and ever-threatening death. Often on the edge of despair with execution and destruction surrounding her, Antonia centers her energies, continually conniving and striving to survive and reunite her scattered family.
This is an elaborate tale played on a complex landscape during times of great stress. Lucyk-Berger captures the horror of camp life, the brutality of occupation, and ferocity of partisan engagements. Further, at times, the reality of betrayal shifts both action and alliances. The poignant denouement brings some strands together and does foreshadow a future. As reality dictates, not all survivors will participate in these new directions, and not every gate will open to a complementary path. However, even the memories might provide a positive route to follow.
