Yaroslaw's Treasure: A Novel [Paperback]

Think Hollywood action-adventure film Romancing the Stone, with a dash of a young 'Indiana Jones' thrown in. Except what takes Yaroslaw's Treasure beyond the action, lightness, and romance into greater depths are the political issues it raises. It makes sense of them by staging a living, historical context for the modern-day contentions.

Disputed origins and independence of Ukraine entwine with actions of the empire-addicted, KGB-controlled Russia to create a maze through which Yaroslaw quests for the treasure, a voyage as mysterious and dangerous as the deep caves of the mediaeval Ukrainian kingdom of Kyivan Rus' into which we are led.

This spectacular expedition tumbles us into the depths of those caves. We encounter Kyiv's heroic, but realistically and humorously rendered, defenders during the Mongol destruction of the city in 1240. We emerge at the dawning of the Orange Revolution 764 years later, when the heroes of the twenty-first century supplant those of the thirteenth. From beginning to end, a journey to treasure! 

A riveting book!

An innocent Canadian meets Ukrainian reality in a fast-paced tale blending fact and fiction marvellously.

Historically accurate and well researchedfrom the sacking of Kyiv, through the 1940s wartime episodes, into the Orange RevolutionPetriw displays a very good grasp of the political goings-on in Ukraine. This drama of delightful realism will be enjoyed by many.

MYROSLAV PETRIW is a lifelong student of the history and politics of Ukraine, from which his parents emigrated after the Second World War. He was an observer during the 2004 elections in that country. He resides in Vancouver.