Ghosts in a Photograph

 

Ghosts in a Photograph / Myrna Kostash
Edmonton: NeWest Press, c2022.
304 p.

Myrna Kostash has written many books exploring both her Ukrainian heritage and wider issues of travel, identity, and immigration. This latest one looks at her own family history, starting with some family mementos, and tracing back the stories of her recent ancestors as best as she could. But it's not just about her own family, it's about wider patterns of immigration, Ukrainian history, the unsolved murder of a Ukrainian ancestor, the interaction of Ukrainian settlers and the Indigenous peoples who were on the Alberta lands they settled, and more. 

The writing is orderly but compelling. It begins by looking at each one of her grandparents separately - they had immigrated from Galicia (Ukraine) and started the Kostash family legacy. It's an interesting setup, as one half of her family were homesteaders and farmers, what you'd think of as the 'typical' Ukrainian immigran experience, but the other half were urban working-class socialists, who had settled in Edmonton. She is able to discuss many elements of the Ukrainian Canadian community, from newspapers and organizations to traditions and expectations, through this perspective. 

There is also a fair bit about her travels to Ukraine to meet with some of her distant cousins and relatives from the home village, many of whom she had barely known about. It's here that she hears family stories from previous generations, of her grandparents' siblings and parents, including that uncle who had disappeared in one of the many wars that have affected Ukraine. All of this was informative, and a fascinating personal story that feels more universal. 

The last chapter discusses the displacement of the Indigenous peoples which resulted from her family's immigration (and the much wider flood of immigration in those early years). She has written a couple of books on Indigenous history/themes, and this concern shows in this chapter as well. This chapter doesn't have the same feeling of personal resonance as the rest of the book, but it is a vital element to acknowledge and discuss. 

This is an important book from a prolific recorder of Ukrainian Canadian social history, and I'm glad to have read it. 

This book was also the winner of this year's Kobzar Book Award. Check out all the nominees and past winners for lots of fabulous Ukrainian Canadian reading.