The Museum of Abandoned Secrets

Written by Oksana Zabuzhko

Narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal

Spanning sixty tumultuous years of Ukrainian history, this multigenerational saga weaves a dramatic and intricate web of love, sex, friendship, and death. At its center: three women linked by the abandoned secrets of the past—secrets that refuse to remain hidden.

While researching a story, journalist Daryna unearths a worn photograph of Olena Dovgan, a member of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army killed in 1947 by Stalin’s secret police. Intrigued, Daryna sets out to make a documentary about the extraordinary woman—and unwittingly opens a door to the past that will change the course of the future. For even as she delves into the secrets of Olena’s life, Daryna grapples with the suspicious death of a painter who just may be the latest victim of a corrupt political power play.

From the dim days of World War II to the eve of Orange Revolution, The Museum of Abandoned Secrets is an “epic of enlightening force” that explores the enduring power of the dead over the living.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Translator: Nina Murray
• Release date: Oct 9, 2012
• ISBN: 9781455895854

Oksana Zabuzhko

Oksana Zabuzhko is one of Ukraine’s most celebrated contemporary writers and the author of more than twenty books. She graduated from the Department of Philosophy of Kiev’s Shevchenko University and obtained her PhD in philosophy of arts. Since publishing her influential novel Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex (1996, published in 2011 in English translation by Halyna Hryn), she has been working as a freelance author. Zabuzhko lives in Kiev, where she and her partner, artist Rostyslav Luzhetskyy, operate a small publishing house. Zabuzhko’s books have been translated into fifteen languages. Among her numerous acknowledgments are a MacArthur Grant (2002), the Antonovych International Foundation Prize (2008), the Order of Princess Olga (2009), and the Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine (2019). Her magnum opus, The Museum of Abandoned Secrets (2010, published in 2012 in English translation by Nina Murray), won the Angelus Central European Literary Prize (2013) for the best novel of Eastern and Central Europe.

Reviews for The Museum of Abandoned Secrets

[Julianne Blanks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There are no words. I think one of
My favourite books of all time, what depth.and II’ve listened to many books, the best.
I don’t listen to anything else. Must be
challenging. I will listen to this book again
& again. Parts of it that are astounding.
Just read it!!

[knittingmomof3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Museum of Abandoned Secrets by Oksana Zabuzhko is an expertly written book which I cannot praise highly enough. Zabuzhko has created quite a lengthy tome, yet I cannot fathom what could be removed without losing the many threads that weaves together this exquisite Ukrainian book. Having spent time in the former Soviet controlled Ukraine, I was captivated from the very beginning to the last page and found myself longing to return. I highly recommend The Museum of Abandoned Secrets and hope the length of the book will not deter others; it is definitely worth the time.

[gary237 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Museum of Abandoned Secrets is a treasure, like an icon wrapped in intricate cloth buried by a mother before a siege. The novel by Oksana Zabuzhko is the story of Ukraine woven from the fabric of individual lives of characters and events from the history of the region. Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe that borders the Russian Federation to the northeast and Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west. Ukraine became an independent nation in 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved after it endured a long history of occupations, resistance fighting, and civil war. The main characters in the novel are fiercely identified with the country and attempt to find cues in their lives and the history of the land to reach and preserve the richness of their heritage.Daryna Goshchynska is a television journalist who specializes in biographical portraits of interesting Ukrainians, especially citizens involved in preserving and advancing the culture of her country. An artist, Vladyslava Mutesevych, intrigues Daryna with her collages that the artist calls, Cycle Secrets, made up of fragmentary relics of the lives Ukrainians. The term, "secrets" come from Vladyslava's memories of a game she played with other children of burying pretty displays of colorful objects wrapped in nice material. They would dig them open in subsequent days to see enjoy the beauty of the display, mimicking their mothers' stories of buried icons. Daryna sees the collage relics as cues to her culture that produce strong emotions in her and a desire to uncover linked secrets from the past. She finds a photograph of members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, resistance fighters, four men and a woman taken in the late 1940s during the occupation of Ukraine by Stalin's forces. Daryna begins research on the woman, Olena Dovgan, and finds many buried secrets of culture in documents and oral histories.The current political and economic situation in Ukraine interferes with Daryna's professional and personal life, but she persists in her research in preparation for Olena's biography. Daryna's research activities give the reader a realistic view of current daily life in Ukraine. Her personal character is revealed in her love relationship with an antiques dealer, Adrian Ambrozich, the great nephew of Olena. Daryna's research also presents a picture of the legacy of several generations of Ukrainians associated with their resistance to occupation and their willingness to die for their country.The translation of the novel by Nina Shevchuck-Murray is a tightly woven tapestry with many knots per square centimeter. The thoughts of the main narrator Daryna are described in great detail so that every sentence is an important thread to a complete understanding of her emotions and motivations. Adrian's inner life is also richly woven when the narration switches to him and his nightly dreams. The conversations of the characters are rich with personal revelations and impressions from different viewpoints of Ukrainian history.I greatly enjoyed reading this lengthy novel (696 pages in my edition) and recommend it to readers who have time to explore the collage presented by Oksana Zabuzhko. A powerful lasting theme nicely created is that Ukarainian women are the informal historians of their culture, the preservers of dreams of generations, and custodians of the iconic hidden secrets.

[seeword · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a huge, sweeping novel told in straight narrative, dreams, and flashbacks. It is long (750 pages) and intense. It took me three month to read it. The amazing thing was that although it is complicated and covers a vast swath of Ukrainian history and contemporary politics, I never got lost in the many times I put it aside. Every time I picked it up I knew exactly where I had left off, even when I had set it aside for more than a week and read 4 or 5 other books in the interim. An amazing, rewarding, and essential read.

[garyseverance-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Museum of Abandoned Secrets is a treasure, like an icon wrapped in intricate cloth buried by a mother before a siege. The novel by Oksana Zabuzhko is the story of Ukraine woven from the fabric of individual lives of characters and events from the history of the region. Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe that borders the Russian Federation to the northeast and Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west. Ukraine became an independent nation in 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved after it endured a long history of occupations, resistance fighting, and civil war. The main characters in the novel are fiercely identified with the country and attempt to find cues in their lives and the history of the land to reach and preserve the richness of their heritage.Daryna Goshchynska is a television journalist who specializes in biographical portraits of interesting Ukrainians, especially citizens involved in preserving and advancing the culture of her country. An artist, Vladyslava Mutesevych, intrigues Daryna with her collages that the artist calls, Cycle Secrets, made up of fragmentary relics of the lives Ukrainians. The term, "secrets" come from Vladyslava's memories of a game she played with other children of burying pretty displays of colorful objects wrapped in nice material. They would dig them open in subsequent days to see enjoy the beauty of the display, mimicking their mothers' stories of buried icons. Daryna sees the collage relics as cues to her culture that produce strong emotions in her and a desire to uncover linked secrets from the past. She finds a photograph of members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, resistance fighters, four men and a woman taken in the late 1940s during the occupation of Ukraine by Stalin's forces. Daryna begins research on the woman, Olena Dovgan, and finds many buried secrets of culture in documents and oral histories.The current political and economic situation in Ukraine interferes with Daryna's professional and personal life, but she persists in her research in preparation for Olena's biography. Daryna's research activities give the reader a realistic view of current daily life in Ukraine. Her personal character is revealed in her love relationship with an antiques dealer, Adrian Ambrozich, the great nephew of Olena. Daryna's research also presents a picture of the legacy of several generations of Ukrainians associated with their resistance to occupation and their willingness to die for their country.The translation of the novel by Nina Shevchuck-Murray is a tightly woven tapestry with many knots per square centimeter. The thoughts of the main narrator Daryna are described in great detail so that every sentence is an important thread to a complete understanding of her emotions and motivations. Adrian's inner life is also richly woven when the narration switches to him and his nightly dreams. The conversations of the characters are rich with personal revelations and impressions from different viewpoints of Ukrainian history.I greatly enjoyed reading this lengthy novel (696 pages in my edition) and recommend it to readers who have time to explore the collage presented by Oksana Zabuzhko. A powerful lasting theme nicely created is that Ukarainian women are the informal historians of their culture, the preservers of dreams of generations, and custodians of the iconic hidden secrets.