In 1991, 2004 and 2014, the Maidan in Kyiv was the stage for three major events that etched Ukraine into the European consciousness. These were the fall of the Soviet...
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The Historical Background Blog
Where the journeys lead to stories and the stories lead to journeys.
In 1991, 2004 and 2014, the Maidan in Kyiv was the stage for three major events that etched Ukraine into the European consciousness. These were the fall of the Soviet...
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In this overview, Ukraine's history of conflicts, conquerors and political flux is illustrated via a timeline from 1200 to WW2, at which time Ukraine came under Soviet control. On August...
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How the Nazis forced Jewish filmmakers and writers to create concentration camp propaganda.
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The power of the subconscious: it wasn't until I was finished writing THE WOMAN AT THE GATES that I realized how very much my maternal grandfather's legacy had played a...
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The power of the subconscious: it wasn't until I was finished writing THE WOMAN AT THE GATES that I realized how very much my maternal grandfather's legacy had played a...
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One portrait of two women, my grandmother, and her sister, has followed me to four countries. When I sat down to write a fictional version of their true stories in...
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In this Q&A with the author, we prepared some possible book club questions that could be posed. Lucyk-Berger provides her insights and the background to writing the characters' lives in...
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I grew up with a very superficial understanding of what it means to come from a family of Ukrainian war refugees. The struggles, the hardships, where we came from—that was...
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A tribute to Stepan Lucyk and Ol'ha Lucyk as well as Yurko Lucyk. My journey to discovering how I am culminated into the novel, THE WOMAN AT THE GATES.
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In August 1948, the farmers of the Reschen Valley awoke to a storm alarm. The sky was blue. But water was seeping into their fields. The company that was building...
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In recent weeks, many of my readers have sent me links to various articles about how the remnants beneath the Reschen Lake Reservoir have “come...
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Easter is my favorite holiday, and with a Ukrainian Orthodox mother and a Ukrainian Catholic father, our family celebrated it twice a year, save for...
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Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, photographer, and actress, known for her seminal role in producing Nazi propaganda.
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I do have a passion for storytelling; for visiting the fantasy worlds in my head and returning with something that must be transposed onto paper; a painting of words, one...
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I do have a passion for storytelling; for visiting the fantasy worlds in my head and returning with something that must be transposed onto paper; a painting of words, one...
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I do have a passion for storytelling; for visiting the fantasy worlds in my head and returning with something that must be transposed onto paper; a painting of words, one...
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Regardless of where I choose to set my next historical fiction novel, I have to do a lot of research. I try to travel to all of the destinations. My...
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In light of the memorials that have been destroyed and taken down from public spaces this past year, historian Hannes Obermair examines how monuments and memorials should depict both perpetrator...
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After the Great War, in the Austrian province of Tyrol a new conflict began. Imagine you are a German-speaking Tyrolean. You run an inn where,...
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Now working on the fourth book in the series (not including the prequel), I am dealing with the events that led the Third Reich and...
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Food is one of my passions, a close second to writing. When penning the scenes in the Reschen Valley series, I make sure that my characters eat and...
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The Italian woman must follow Italian fashion. Taste, elegance and originality have demonstrated that this initiative can and must be successful. –Italian Fascist Party edict...
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Each of my novels requires anywhere from 20 to 30 books of research about the era I’m writing in. For the Reschen Valley series, I read...
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In the second of this two-part series, I’ll introduce you to the top museums dedicated to depicting the historical battles of WW1 (and WW2) in the...
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In this two-part series, we’re going to take you on a hike through the Italian Dolomites in South Tyrolean territory. In our post in July,...
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Last month, I posted the first of two parts regarding the Catholic rituals and heritage of Palm Sunday through Easter Monday. Having grown up in...
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This year, my husband and I celebrated Catholic Easter in Pitigliano, Italy. Our “big bash” was on Orthodox Easter a week later. I grew up...
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Like the United States has George Washington as its iconic founding father, an Austrian province in the middle of Europe, called Tyrol, gives homage through...
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European Traditions and Culture Around Carnival and Lent One of the things that never cease to amaze me when I travel or visit other cultures...
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Before I started the Reschen Valley series, I was writing about Ukraine in WW2. Shortly after I completed my debut novel, I realized I still...
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The Treaty of St Germain. If you are in the least bit familiar with how WW2 came to a head, then you are also aware...
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Reinforcing a reader’s misconceptions is like feeding junk food to their intelligence. I am not a perfect author. I don’t even know what that is...
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This is going to be a short post. I am still reeling from watching The Promise last night, which takes place in 1914 Istanbul/Constantinople and reveals the...
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