Dzvinka: A Ukrainian Woman Born in the USSR

«You have such beautiful Ukrainian — you must be from Lviv?» This is a phrase Dzvinia, the main character in Nina Kuryata's debut novel, will hear constantly. She is forced to overcome other people's stereotypes about herself and her fellow countrymen from the south of Ukraine.
This book is about the experience of being born Ukrainian in the USSR, about Soviet propaganda, linguistic discrimination, and prejudice from compatriots from other regions. Her family helps Dzvinia form and preserve her own identity: family stories and upbringing sow doubts in her mind about whether to believe everything they say in school, write in newspapers, and "lie" about on television.
The heroine's childhood takes place during the late Brezhnev era and the beginning of Perestroika, her youth during the collapse of the USSR and the turbulent nineties, and her adulthood during the final establishment of Independence. After moving to Odesa, Dzvinia has to defend her otherness in a Russified environment. Later, in Kyiv and western Ukraine, she has to prove that she is just as Ukrainian as those who were born on the other side of the Zbruch River, that her native language is Ukrainian, and that Ukrainians also live in the Odesa region.
The characters in the book speak Ukrainian and Russian, Podolian and Galician dialects, as well as Surzhyk. It's all just like in our life, which is rich in unpredictable circumstances and diverse cultural codes.