Traitor: A Novel

1944. Poland. The city of Lwów remains a battleground between Poland and Ukraine. Tolya Korolenko is half Polish, half Ukrainian, and does whatever it takes to stay alive. But when he not-so-accidentally shoots a political officer in the Soviet Red Army, and Ukrainian freedom fighters rescue him, he has to find out whose side he’s really on. Tolya doesn’t trust them, with good reason, especially Solovey, who seems to have an agenda of his own and plenty of secrets on top of that. When a betrayal sends Tolya and Solovey on the run, they have to trust each other; as much as one traitor can trust another traitor.

Where can I start? Tolya and Solovey go through a heartbreaking journey that will stay with me for a long time. There are actually two storylines, which switch about every ten chapters between Tolya and Aleksey, a young man trying to escape Lwów in 1941. It was odd, though, that the point-of-view switched from first to third. In the back is a list of characters, but, even more helpful, a list of military and paramilitary forces. In the end, I was left with some questions that I wish were answered.