I am native Ukrainian, and that's what my new historically-based novel, WRETCHED LAND, is all about. I came to Canada twenty years ago to meet my pen pal, Selmer Komarnisky. We eventually married and currently live in central Alberta.


The first few years in Canada were a time of adjustment. I was fortunate to meet a wonderful group of fellow Canadians, who helped me to feel at home. Trained in veterinary medicine in the Ukraine, I joined a doctoral program in Nutrition and Metabolism at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. After graduating, I work as a postgraduate researcher at the Veterinary College of Louisiana State University. After an illness, I was forced to retired, and, not knowing what to do with my free spare time, decided to improve my English and started writing stories. After reading an old history book about the Ukraine, the idea of writing the novel, WRETCHED LAND, was born.

I enrolled in a novel writing course at Winghill Writing School and since then have been pursuing my third career as a novelist. I love writing and hope that readers will find WRETCHED LAND an interesting, informative and heart-wrenching historical novel. Set in near-contemporary Ukraine, it may, because of the exceedingly rapid changes during those times, read more like a fantasy. I assure you, however, from the perspective of the people who lived through those times, it was not. I have tried my best to remain true to the events and tenor of the times. So, grab a copy of WRETCHED LAND, curl up on a warm sofa before a crackling fire, and join Khrystina and Dmytro in what I think you will find an ultimately heart-warming story filled with action, love and Ukrainian "true grit."

Sincerely,
Mila Komarnisky
Author of WRETCHED LAND