Character Connections
This is the main protagonist of The Lost Year, who starts out mostly focused on playing video games.
Matthew
The Holodomor was a famine that took place in this country.
Ukraine
Matthew’s great-grandmother refuses to talk about her past for this reason.
Guilt & fear
To survive the famine, many Ukrainian families had to make this heartbreaking choice.
Eat their pets
The story’s two main settings take place in these two time periods.
What are 1932–33 and 2020?
This family member is a source of mystery and keeps secrets about the past.
Who is Great-grandmother?
Stalin’s forced collectivization led to a famine because he took this resource away from farmers.
Grain
Matthew discovers an old photograph that hints at a family connection to this historical event.
What is the Holodomor?
This is how Matthew’s great-grandmother survived while others starved.
Escape to America
In the present-day storyline, Matthew is stuck inside due to this real-world event.
What is the COVID-19 pandemic?
Great-grandmother’s past is connected to this historical event, which she hesitates to speak about.
What is the Holodomor?
The economic crisis in the U.S. during the 1930s was called this.
The Great Depression
What did Mila's father lie about in terms of his parentage?
Being part of a Kulak family
This resource became more valuable than money in Soviet Ukraine.
What is food?
In Soviet Ukraine, this is the season that made the famine even deadlier.
What is winter?
This character of Jewish heritage is a good friend to Helen.
Who is Ruth?
Just like during the COVID-19 pandemic, people during the Holodomor also struggled with shortages of this.
What is food?
People living under Stalin’s rule often had to do this to survive, even if it meant betraying loved ones.
Tell on others.
In the present day, Matthew is trying to survive this hardship.
What is Covid?
Matthew lives in this American state.
What is New Jersey?
This character is a journalist by trade.
Matthew's father.
What kind of leader was Stalin?
Totalitarian/authoritarian
The government used this method to keep the truth about the famine from the world.
What is censorship?
This historical figure’s policies forced millions of Ukrainians to suffer and starve.
Who is Stalin?
This city is the capital of Ukraine.
What is Kiev?