Zoya's Gift: Building a Bridge to a Global Family A Memoir

by Gail McCormick

Overview

Still recovering from the heartbreak of infertility, memoirist Gail McCormick and her husband volunteer to host two Children of Chernobyl for a summer reprieve from radiation exposure. Fate pairs the Seattle couple with eight-year-old Ukrainian twin sisters from Belarus—and rekindles Gail’s childhood dream to build a bridge of peace between the US and the former Soviet Union.

Over four summers of mayhem and magic with the twins, a deep relationship takes root. When the girls age out of the program that brought them to Seattle, Gail confronts her Cold War fears and travels with her husband to reunite with them in Ukraine and Belarus. On this soul-making trip to a land of unspeakable loss, she celebrates life in the homes of an accordion-playing Chernobyl hero and a barefooted babushka who distills her own vodka, and—behind the remnants of the Iron Curtain—finds her place as an honorary mother and babushka in a four-generation family of former Soviets. Poignant and culturally rich, her narrative transports readers to storied cities, villages, and dachas from Kyiv to Minsk.

Written with reverence, insight, humor, and hope, Zoya’s Gift illuminates the complexities, joys, and importance of reaching across political, class, and cultural divides.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647426835
Publisher:	She Writes Press
Publication date:	06/11/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Gail McCormick is a Seattle author and psychotherapist with Midwest roots. She was a finalist in the 2022 Pacific Northwest Writers unpublished memoir competition and took first place for intercultural essays in the 2021 Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition. Her stories have also appeared in the Timberline Review and the Santa Fe Literary Review, and she is the author of Living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Narratives of Coping. A former newspaper reporter and biographer with an MS in community counseling and a BA in journalism, today Gail volunteers her services to community organizations serving immigrants and others affected by dislocation and trauma. Her passions include nature, travel, interfaith spirituality, farmers’ markets, and all things organic. She and her husband live in Seattle.

Editorial Reviews

A moving affirmation of the healing power of interpersonal connection. ...[McCormick's] own hopes for the future, and her strong belief in the power of individual acts to bridge cultural divides is inspirational.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“A heart-wrenching and heart-warming memoir that chronicles the author's transformative journey from heartbreak to healing through her relationship with Ukrainian twin sisters and their extended global family. Amidst the backdrop of infertility and the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, McCormick discovers unexpected connections and profound love that transcend cultural and geographical boundaries. . . . a highly recommended read for fans of inspirational memoirs everywhere.”
—Readers’ Favorite

“Gail McCormick’s memoir reminds any woman who has yearned for children of her own that there are many ways to ‘mother.’ When one dream ends, an extraordinary life may begin.”
—Melanie Notkin, author of Otherhood: Modern Women Finding a New Kind of Happiness

“A tender odyssey of the soul, by turns both personal and political, Zoya’s Gift is an intimate memoir of love and grief that shows how, with willingness and courage, there are many ways to create a family of the heart when a family of the womb was not to be.”
—Jody Day, founder of Gateway Women and author of Living the Life Unexpected: How to Find Hope, Meaning and a Fulfilling Future Without Children

“Zoya's Gift is a heartwarming testament to the magic that happens when strangers from different cultures, without a common language between them, decide to choose each other as family. In this wonderfully crafted memoir, McCormick shows us that extraordinary gifts can emerge from the most unlikely connections when we move away from judgement and learn to celebrate our differences.”
—Laura Maya, author of Tell Them My Name

“Enchanting—that is the only way to describe the eight-year-old twins at the heart of Gail McCormick’s memoir. When they creep off the plane that has flown them from the Chernobyl fallout zone to Seattle for a summer of fresh air, Gail’s life changes forever. The book is also a true story of love and loss and restoration. There are ups and downs, joy and sorrows. The author handles them all with a deft touch that illuminates and inspires hope.”
—Ellen Barker, author of East of Troost: A Novel and Still Needs Work: A Novel

“Giving birth is not the only way to become a mother, as Gail McCormick proves in this engaging memoir. This is a beautifully written memoir about an important subject, especially in these days of war between Ukraine and Russia. While shining a light on truths that cannot be spoken where Vika and Maria live, McCormick also offers an encouraging Plan B for couples who struggle with infertility.”
—Sue Fagalde Lick, author of Childless by Marriage and No Way Out of This: Loving a Partner with Alzheimer’s

From the Publisher

2024-04-20
In McCormick’s memoir, a found family connects cultures, overcomes language barriers, and crosses borders.

In the 1990s, the author and her husband, Michael, who live in the Seattle area, struggled with infertility and experienced multiple miscarriages. A mental health counselor, she also suffered from chemical sensitivity, which caused “physical, psychological, and emotional reactions to neurotoxic chemicals found in ordinary products considered to be safe.” In 1997, the McCormicks connected with Children of Chernobyl Northwest, an organization that brings kids to Seattle for summer vacations free from radiation exposure. Maria and Vika Petrova, 8-year-old fraternal twins from a town in Belarus to which residents from the Chernobyl radiation area were relocated, come to stay with the couple, beginning a lifetime connection. The girls return in 1998, 1999, and 2001; with the author and Michael, they play the card game Uno, have competitions to see who has the funniest laugh, and enjoy swimming, among other experiences. A prolonged separation after 2001 was difficult for the author: “Knowing we would always view the same moon provided me with the comfort of a touchstone I could never lose.” Six years later, she and Michael reconnected with the young women during a transformative trip to Ukraine and Belarus. They met Vika and Maria’s parents, Zoya and Ivan, and their beloved babushka (grandmother) in person. “My picture of motherhood—and myself—had been transformed when Zoya recognized me as the honorary mother and babushka of her daughters and grandchild,” writes McCormick. In 2014, Vika and Maria traveled to Seattle with Vika’s 2-year-old son and their niece. Over the course of this memoir, McCormick’s eloquent writing about the physical and emotional effects of her medical challenges is touching, and it is likely to resonate with many readers. Her account of the love between the families, her own hopes for the future, and her strong belief in the power of individual acts to bridge cultural divides is inspirational, as when she writes, “I’ve learned that relationships bound by the heart can survive grievous obstacles in a splintered world.”

A moving affirmation of the healing power of interpersonal connection.

Kirkus Reviews