Red Stone

Katya knows all about Stalin's big plans; she learned of them in school. But those plans mean little to her until the secret police arrest Papa and seize their family farm. With Mama and her younger siblings, Katya is shoved into a crowded train headed for a forced labour camp in Siberia. Torn from everything she has ever known, Katya faces cold and hunger, and the ever-present threat of lost hope. As she clings to a single red stone from the fields of her homeland, she questions life. Where is Papa? Will she ever see him again? And what will become of Katya's family?

Inspired by a true story, Red Stone explores the trauma and heartbreak suffered by many families in the Soviet Union during the 1930s when Stalin seized individual property and villainized property owners as kulaks.

GABRIELE GOLDSTONE, the oldest daughter of European immigrants, always looked for stories about her parents' past. She majored in 20th century German literature at university but was disappointed that she could not find the stories she sought. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, her mother's anecdotes and history began to click together. In 2004, Gabriele traveled to Ukraine and searched through former KGB files to find more missing pieces-and Katya's red stone. Gabriele lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba and has three adult children along with a silver-grey cat and a golden-haired dog.