Everything eventually reaches its appointed place in time and space. Maria Matios's dramatic family saga, Hardly Ever Otherwise, narrates the story of several western Ukrainian families during the last decades of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and expands upon the idea that "it isn't time that is important, but the human condition in time." In Matios's multi-tiered plot, the grand passions of ordinary people are illuminated under the caliginous light of an ethereal mysticism. Digressions on ...

Painting a tortured picture of lifes harsh brutality in the region, Maria provides an insight into the complicated history of this remote corner of the Carpathian Mountains. Against the colourful backdrop of local traditions and highlanders rites she weaves her story of love, intertwined with a heart wrenching human tragedy, not avoiding intimate details of the anatomy of relationships between men and women. Enchanted by the impeccable style of this family saga, the reader becomes baffled ...

Everything eventually reaches its appointed place in time and space. Maria Matios's dramatic family saga, Hardly Ever Otherwise, narrates the story of several western Ukrainian families during the last decades of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and expands upon the idea that "it isn't time that is important, but the human condition in time." In Matios's multi-tiered plot, the grand passions of ordinary people are illuminated under the caliginous light of an ethereal mysticism. Digressions on ...

The dramatic family saga Hardly Ever Otherwise by Maria Matios, having won the Ukrainian national Book of the Year Award 2007 and Grand Prix at the Ukrainian Coronation of the Word Prize 2007, narrates the story of several western Ukrainian families during the last decades of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and expands upon the idea that “it isn’t time that is important, but the human condition in time.”The family of a wealthy farmer Kyrylo Cheviuk is stricken by a tragedy. As time pas...

Die bewegte Geschichte der Ukraine im 20. Jahrhundert in einem ergreifenden Roman. Darina und die Bukowina: ein Leben und ein Land der Zwischentöne Ein kleines Dorf im Grenzland der Bukowina – dort lebt Darina. Sie ist scheinbar stumm und man sagt von ihr, sie sei "nicht ganz bei Verstand". Darina lebt allein im Bauernhaus ihrer Eltern. Einzig Zwytschok, dessen Herkunft niemand kennt, kümmert sich liebevoll um die Außenseiterin. Doch wie alle anderen im Dorf weiß auch er nicht, welche dram...

Mit Iwankas Geschichte lässt Maria Matios die vielstimmige Ukraine des 20. Jahrhunderts erklingen. Dies ist die Geschichte von Iwanka, dies ist die Geschichte der Ukraine Maria Matios ist eine der bekanntesten Schriftsteller*innen der Ukraine. In klarer Sprache erzählt sie in "Mitternachtsblüte" von der jungen Iwanka, die in einem abgeschiedenen nordbukowinischen Dorf lebt. Sie leidet an Epilepsie, die Bewohner*innen betrachten sie als Sonderling. Doch fühlt sich das Mädchen in ihrer Fanta...

'To my mind Maria Matios's Sweet Darusya is the best contemporary Ukrainian novel written since Ukrainian Independence in 1991. It reveals a family saga that is much more dynamic than classical sagas and at the same time is much more touching and engaging. It is an emotional history of Ukraine with a very well researched and vivid historical background that gives the reader the opportunity to understand not only the characters and their drama, but the entire drama of the country/c...

Hardly Ever Otherwise by Maria Matios is a powerful family saga set in Western Ukraine under the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Through intertwined lives and destinies, Matios examines the inevitability of human passions and choices against the backdrop of time and tradition.In Hardly Ever Otherwise, Maria Matios crafts a richly layered narrative that explores the lives of several Western Ukrainian families during the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s twilight years. Matios’s s...

Presque jamais autrement est une saga familiale qui se déroule dans les Carpates ukrainiennes au début du XXe siècle. Elle met en exergue les grandes passions des gens ordinaires, avec en arrière-plan le destin d’un territoire martyrisé par les guerres et les dominations successives.Dans un style remarquable, entretissant magistralement les fils narratifs, Maria Matios livre un récit, souvent cruel, où les frères s’entretuent pour de maigres parcelles de terre, où des femme...

Women’s prose writing has exploded on the literary scene in Ukraine just prior to and following Ukrainian independence in 1991. Over the past two decades scores of fascinating new women authors have emerged. These authors write in a wide variety of styles and genres including short stories, novels, essays, and new journalism. In the collection you will find: realism, magical realism, surrealism, the fantastic, deeply intellectual writing, newly discovered feminist perspectives, philosophic...