Mireille Juchau

I seem to be on a bit of a European, what's the word?

Jag, yeah.

I've just read on the basis of several writers mentioning it to me, completely unconnected writers, knowing my taste perhaps, suggested I read a book called Maybe Esther.

And it's by a Ukrainian, has Ukrainian Polish heritage.

Her name is Katia Petroskaya.

I'm pretty sure it's been packaged as a memoir, but it's about her and she's a similar generation to me.

It's about her search for what happened to various family members who were victims of the gulags, the Ukrainian famine, the Holodomor, I think it's called, and the Holocaust.

And she retraces the paths of these various relatives there.

going on trips to Mauthausen, going on Google to try and find out what was the name of the street at which one of her relatives was deported or shot.

And it's quite an extraordinary work that takes you across Europe to all the locations of these various sites of war.

And it's really about the aftermath of that dispersion of her family.

And it's fascinating.

Well, you've brought us such a range of books to think about, you two.

What a pleasure that is.

Thanks so much for having us.

It means a decent salary for a year, which is fantastic for a writer.

And rare.

And a few people have commented to me that that will last me three years, but I figure I can live the high life a little bit this year.

I've got an office and I share that with my fellow writer in residence, who's the playwright Alana Valentine.

Ah.