{"product_id":"your-presence-is-mandatory-9781639731534","title":"Your Presence Is Mandatory","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the 2025 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature Gold Medal Winner for the 94th Annual California Book Awards Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eA riveting debut novel, based on real events, about a World War II veteran with a secret that could land him in the Gulag, and his family who are forced to live in the shadow of all he has not told them.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eUkraine, 2007. Yefim Shulman, husband, grandfather and war veteran, was beloved by his family and his coworkers. But in the days after his death, his widow Nina finds a letter to the KGB in his briefcase. Yefim had a lifelong secret, and his confession forces them to reassess the man they thought they knew and the country he had defended. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 1941, Yefim is a young artillerist on the border between the Soviet Union and Germany, eager to defend his country and his large Jewish family against Hitler's forces. But surviving the war requires sacrifices Yefim never imagined-and even when the war ends, his fight isn't over. He must conceal his choices from the KGB and from his family. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Spanning seven decades between World War II and the current Russia-Ukraine conflict, \u003ci\u003eYour Presence Is Mandatory\u003c\/i\u003e traces the effect Yefim's coverup had on the lives of Nina, their two children and grandchildren. In the process, Sasha Vasilyuk shines a light on one family caught between two totalitarian regimes, and the grace they find in the course of their survival.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSasha Vasilyuk\u003c\/b\u003e's award-winning debut novel is based on her grandfather's life as a Ukrainian Jewish veteran of WWII and her own early childhood in Ukraine and Russia. Her nonfiction has been published in the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eHarper's Bazaar\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e, on CNN, and elsewhere. She lives in San Francisco.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50584596971794,"sku":"9781639731534","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_985066ee-0f0d-4a7e-ae31-c72c315eb604.jpg?v=1765356769","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/your-presence-is-mandatory-9781639731534","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}