A Woman Can Be Trusted

The keys to the present are always dusty in the past. But does everyone have the courage to willingly unlock the storerooms of their memory, where betrayal and deceit are sealed and lies are canned? And how often do our past actions ricochet onto our loved ones, fundamentally changing their lives? It is precisely these questions that are posed in the new novel by the eminent Ukrainian writer Maria Matios, entitled A Woman Can Be Trusted. The book masterfully recreates the atmosphere of the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, with the most accurate markers, right down to domestic trifles. The reader is immersed in a world of total ideological censorship, blackmail, and KGB scheming, where the characters desperately try to shed the burden of the past.

Matios profoundly reveals how the uniforms and methods of the MGB (Ministry of State Security) and punitive organs, familiar from her previous works, never disappeared. They merely relocated to modern offices and transformed into more sophisticated and cynical games. This is a thrilling novel that combines a psychological drama with elements of a thriller, forcing one to reflect on the price of freedom and the unbroken connection between generations.