Starting in April 2014, war raged in Ukraine’s eastern provinces and Crimea was annexed and completely occupied by Russia. In May 2014, Ukraine voted in a pro-Western president to replace the president who had fled to Moscow after the Maidan. The west placed sanctions on Russia, and called the annexation of the Crimean peninsula illegal.

In February 2022, when Sofiya, Ilya, Cedric, Anna and Petro would have been around 20 years old, Russia launched a full-scale invasion on all of Ukraine. All of these fictional characters would have been old enough to enter the military and fight for their respective countries. Many of those Ukrainian teenagers who had protested at the Maidan with their parents were the first to enlist when Russia invaded. The death toll on both sides is horrifying and tragic.

This time, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, Japan, and hundreds of other countries did more than just place sanctions on Russia. They united behind Ukraine’s right to defend itself. Razom—together—they have been working to help Ukraine fight for its sovereignty; in other words, no country has the right to invade another country just because it feels like it. And most especially when treaties are already in place, as they were between Russia and Ukraine.

This story is based on true events that took place in Sevastopol and at the dolphinarium there in 2014. I used this setting to shed light on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and not to begin (or end) a debate about marine mammals in captivity.

The release of the Sevastopol dolphins into Ukrainian hands is purely fictional. However, the Russians did seize the dolphinarium in Sevastopol and ransomed the trainers and staff: Either they were to become Russian citizens and could continue working with the marine mammals or they would be banned from the facilities. Some staff and trainers complied, for whatever reasons they decided to. Rumors cropped up that the dolphins were not cooperating with their new Russian owners or went on hunger strikes in protest, and died. These stories seem implausible and were unconfirmed. However, Russian government records show that five bottlenosed dolphins were purchased and moved to the center in 2016. So what happened to the dolphins that were there in 2014?

Many factual stories and research helped to inspire the scenes for this novel. Although I take great pride in visiting all my settings, because of the war, I was unable to get to Sevastopol. I used, instead, pictures of the facilities from the Internet, visited dolphinariums in Europe and North America, and created a fictional dolphinarium for the purposes of this book.

The movie Dolphin Tale (2011) inspired the setup of Sofiya’s public viewing and social media ideas. It is based on Winter, a dolphin who was rescued and transferred to Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida. The research of dolphins and language at Kewalo Marine Laboratory in Hawaii inspired the sign language training in this story.

In 2022, under heavy shelling and bombardment, the staff of a dolphinarium in Kharkiv were able to move their animals to Odesa and later to a Romanian facility in Constanta. Both Ukrainian trainers and the animals now work there together and are doing well with their Romanian partners.

It is this true story that inspired the fictional ending of Sofiya’s tale, as simply releasing the dolphins into the wild would be an absolute no-no.

In the meantime, the Russian navy has been using military marine mammals in the Black Sea and in the Arctic for their purposes. Dolphins, seals, and whales patrol the waters for them, detect mines, lay mines, and are used to spy on commercial ships. Many Ukrainians hope to see the day when the Black Sea bottle nosed dolphins are rescued from their fate, and are able to once more serve their purposes in peacetime: for therapy, for sharing knowledge, conducting research, and teaching people to love and respect sea life.

I am in deep gratitude to those who took the time to enlighten, teach, and share their expertise with me, especially the dolphins I was able to meet personally, and who helped create some of the most memorable and treasured experiences of my life.