Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга третя. Несправджені сподівання. Quotes

“The doctor delivered a devastating diagnosis: a severe stroke with paralysis of the right side of her body, brought on by prolonged starvation.
In the days that followed, Irina’s condition steadily deteriorated. The family took turns caring for her, carefully following every medical instruction, yet the decline was obvious. Within days, her left leg failed as well. She could no longer speak—only stare ahead in silent resignation. Whenever one of her loved ones approached her bedside, tears streamed soundlessly down her face.
Now, sitting beside his grandmother’s pillow, Peter watched the boundless sorrow in her eyes as she looked at him.
“Grandma, everything will be all right. You’ll recover,” the boy lied with all the gentleness he was capable of. “I love you.”
He pressed his face to her chest and kissed her. Heavy tears rolled down Irina’s cheeks. A lump rose in Peter’s throat. He could not drive away the terrible thought: How could it be that only yesterday someone so alive, loving, and active—though ill—could so suddenly become a helpless ruin? It felt unnatural. It felt unjust.
With each passing day, life faded from Irina. A week after the stroke, she died quietly in her sleep.
At his grandmother’s funeral, Peter wept as he never had before—and never would again. He did not hide his tears. He kept kissing her cold lips, cheeks, and forehead. But each kiss only made the grief heavier.
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Three


Context note:
Set during the Holodomor of 1933 in Ukraine, this scene portrays one of the famine’s most tragic realities: the rapid decline and death of the elderly and the sick often among the first victims of starvation. Malnutrition weakened the body’s ability to survive illness, and strokes, infections, and organ failure became fatal in a society stripped of food and medical resources. Behind the statistics of millions dead were intimate family tragedies like this one.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга третя. Несправджені сподівання.: Все буде Голодомор.

“Roughly halfway across the frozen river, the column of prisoners was halted by a massive snowdrift blocking their path. It proved too dense to break through in a single charge.
“Why are you standing there staring? Move! Help the men in front!” a guard barked.
The prisoners crowded forward and began clearing the obstacle together, clawing and kicking at the packed snow with desperate urgency.
In their haste, they failed to consider that the ice had not yet thickened sufficiently after the previous night’s freeze. Under the concentrated weight of so many bodies in one place, the thin crust of ice suddenly gave way. The entire vanguard plunged into the freezing water.
Those following behind recoiled in terror and collided with the prisoners at the rear. As they fell, the ice shattered beneath them as well, and they too were swallowed by the treacherous water. The more fortunate inmates, farther from the gaping hole in the ice, scattered in panic. Frightened guards fired warning shots into the air, shouting frantically to restore order.
An instant later, the icy slurry struck Peter’s body like a thousand knives. Screams, splashing water, cracking ice, and frantic bodies thrashing in the racing current merged into a single nightmare of chaos.
Several of the men who had fallen into the river could not swim. One was quickly seized by the current and dragged beneath the ice. Others, stricken by panic, clutched at whoever was near them. Peter found himself locked in the iron grip of a terrified Turkmen prisoner who had never in his life seen a body of water large enough to swim in. Together, they began to sink beneath the ice.
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Three


Context note:
Set in 1941 during the chaotic early months of World War II, this scene depicts the forced transfer of prisoners within the Soviet Gulag system. As Nazi Germany invaded the USSR, thousands of inmates were marched or transported across vast distances under brutal conditions. Many perished not in battle, but during these desperate evacuations—victims of cold, exhaustion, panic, and the indifference of a repressive state.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга третя. Несправджені сподівання.: Все буде Голодомор.

“Our guest—Comrade Stebletsov—is not merely speaking about rooting out class enemies from Soviet society; he is doing so in practice!” the homeroom teacher declared grandly. “He is a member of a grain requisition squad and therefore a true executor of the Bolshevik Party’s line to eliminate the kulaks as a class! And today, the best among you, children, are given the opportunity to prove your loyalty to the cause of Lenin and Stalin. Peter! Marusya! Stand up!”
The children rose from their desks in confusion.
“As top students and Young Pioneers, you are entrusted by our school collective with participation in an important state mission!” The teacher’s chest seemed to swell with pride as her chin lifted higher. “You will represent our school as public members of the grain requisition squad. Together with your senior comrades, you are assigned to uncover grain hidden by kulaks and saboteurs. Our class enemy does not sleep—he seeks to sabotage the industrialization of the USSR. He hides grain from the Soviet state, condemning the proletariat to suffering. But we will not allow the vile accomplices of the rich to rob our people! We entrust you with a responsible mission: as part of the requisition squad, you will locate and pour into the granaries of the Motherland the grain illegally concealed by the kulaks!”
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Three


Context note:
Set during the Holodomor of 1933, this scene illustrates how Soviet schools became instruments of communist propaganda. Children were mobilized as Young Pioneers and encouraged to participate in grain confiscation campaigns against peasants branded by the regime as “kulaks.” The language of class struggle and industrialization masked the immense human cost of forced collectivization and the state-imposed famine in Ukraine and across the USSR.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга третя. Несправджені сподівання.: Все буде Голодомор.

“Boom!” The thunder of a massive explosion rolled across the settlement.
Maria’s sobbing came from the bedroom. Irina ran to her daughter.
“They’ve blown up the church! They destroyed it!” Maria cried again and again in hysteria.
“Hush, hush,” Irina whispered, holding her daughter close as she tried to calm her. “Be strong. We will pray before the icons at home. God in heaven sees everything. No one can destroy Him—or our faith.”
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Three


Context note:
Set in the 1930s during Stalin’s anti-religious campaign, this scene reflects the Soviet regime’s systematic destruction of churches and persecution of believers. Across the USSR, thousands of religious buildings were demolished as part of the state’s effort to eradicate faith—yet for many families, belief survived behind closed doors, becoming an act of quiet resistance.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга третя. Несправджені сподівання.: Все буде Голодомор.

“If your case, as a politically repressed person, is reviewed by the Special Council, you are almost guaranteed the standard sentence: ten years in labor camps plus three years’ loss of civil rights. The Special Council delivers verdicts in batches, so it simply does not have time to examine each case in detail. But if a judicial panel hears your case—and if I, as the prosecutor, withdraw the charges—you might even be acquitted. For that, however, you would need to submit a request to be sent to the front and, if acquitted, go to war.”
“And are you prepared to withdraw the charges?” Peter asked in surprise.
“I will be frank with you,” the prosecutor replied, enunciating each word. “As a patriot of my country, I believe that in wartime young, strong, and intelligent men like you should fight the enemy—not rot in the camps. Two of my own sons are at the front fulfilling their duty to the Motherland, and I am ready to help you do the same.”
“Thank you,” Peter said firmly. “I, too, am ready to defend my country rather than remain safely in the rear.”

Context note:
Set during World War II under Stalin’s regime, this scene exposes the legal absurdity of Soviet repression, where “justice” depended less on evidence than on political expediency. Special tribunals could issue sentences in batches, while wartime necessity sometimes transformed prisoners into soldiers—revealing a system in which ideology, survival, and patriotism collided.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга третя. Несправджені сподівання.: Все буде Голодомор.

“I took my own and Kolya’s two-day ration of bread and lard to the hospital,” the boy said, with unsettling calm beyond his years. “We must do everything we can to save him. If he dies, he won’t need food anymore.”
Danilo’s eyes filled with tears.
“Oh God, how could you let this happen?” he thought bitterly. “Is it fair to take a piece from one starving child to give it to another?”
He pulled his son’s head to his chest.
“You’re probably right,” he said quietly.
After a while, he returned from the pantry with an unusually full bucket of cornmeal and two bundles.
“Mother,” Danilo said to his mother-in-law, handing her the food, “besides the usual bread, bake a few pies with lard and pumpkin—for Kolya… and for Peter.”
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Three


Context note:
Set during the Holodomor, this scene captures the impossible moral choices faced by families during the man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine. A child’s stark logic forces adults to confront the inhuman calculus of survival—where compassion meant redistributing hunger, and saving one life could mean endangering another.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга третя. Несправджені сподівання.: Все буде Голодомор.

“The boys lived in their own simple, carefree world, unconcerned with hygiene and unaware of the theory of evolution. Yet ruthless natural selection—further intensified by human disregard for its principles and the laws of biology—allowed only the strongest and most enduring to survive.
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Three


Context note:
This quote reflects childhood lived under harsh social neglect, where survival depended not on care or knowledge, but on physical resilience. Set against the backdrop of Soviet Ukraine, it uses the metaphor of natural selection to expose how indifference to basic human and biological needs shaped who endured—and who did not.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга третя. Несправджені сподівання.: Все буде Голодомор.

“Faith in God turned into the destruction of churches; collectivization into the Holodomor; hope for a better future into the loss of loved ones. People sought justice, but received unjust court verdicts; they defended their homeland, only to become prisoners or victims of occupation.
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Three (book description)


Context note:
This quote reflects the tragic fate of ordinary people in Soviet Ukraine during the 1930s–1940s, when religious persecution, forced collectivization, the Holodomor, political repression, and war shattered personal lives and destroyed hopes for justice and freedom.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга третя. Несправджені сподівання.: Все буде Голодомор.