Review | The Blackbird Girls

Summary: The Blackbird Girls

Valentina and Oksana are classmates and neighbors living in Pryapta near Chernobyl, Ukraine, when the nuclear explosion occurs. Valentina is Jewish, and Oksana is Ukrainian. Oksana’s father is abusive and dies in the explosion. Her mother isn’t allowed to leave because of her high radiation exposure, so Oksana is forced to leave with Valentina and her mother. The three leave for a nearby city, where they stay with a family friend who chases them away after two days because she doesn’t want to get sick from their radiation exposure. Valentina’s mother decides that they will go to Leningrad to stay with her estranged mother. Unfortunately, at the station, they learn that only two tickets are available and she sends the two young girls to live with her mother.

The Good

I adored this book! It’s excellent on audio, and I’m glad I experienced it in that format. It follows two timelines: Oksana’s and Valentina’s int he 1980s and that of Valentina’s grandmother, who had to flee for her life during the Jewish Holocaust. Oksana and Valentina are two dynamic characters. I loved watching them go from rivals to kind of enemies and finally, friends who were practically sisters looking out for each other. This is great for tweens who like friendship stories.

Another reason why I was so drawn to this book is that it’s set in Ukraine. As someone who lived there for three years, I’m thrilled whenever I find a book set there. The Chernobyl disaster and the events afterward, which is the main event of this book, was a major world event, and this book does an amazing job of taking readers behind the scenes to see what life was like for the local people at that time.

If you like your historical fiction with plenty of surprising twists and rich historical detail, this book is the perfect fit. It kept me hooked from start to finish in under 24 hours and blends elements of the thriller and survival genres as Oksana and Valentina face obstacle after obstacle in their fight to escape the blast radius. When they do get away, they’re faced with new challenges, including religious tolerance (especially for Valentina’s Jewish grandmother). Readers will be on the edge of their seats as the girls surmount each problem with an incredibly satisfying ending.