The Museum of Abandoned Secrets
Ukraine

The Museum of Abandoned Secrets

by Oksana Zabuzhko

Identity & Belonging Historical Fiction Fiction 2012

Summary

Spanning more than six decades of Ukrainian history, from the Second World War to the early 2000s, The Museum of Abandoned Secrets is an ambitious, multigenerational novel about memory, resistance, and the hidden forces shaping national identity.

In contemporary Kyiv, journalist Daryna Hoshchynska discovers an old photograph of Olena Dovhan, a young Ukrainian partisan who was killed by Soviet secret police in 1947 after being betrayed by her lover. Fascinated by Olena’s story, Daryna begins investigating her life, uncovering secrets that connect the wartime resistance to the political realities of modern Ukraine. As her research deepens, personal relationships, family histories, and forgotten traumas become entangled with the country’s turbulent past.

Moving between generations and historical periods, Zabuzhko explores Soviet repression, political violence, cultural memory, and the enduring consequences of historical silence. Combining historical fiction, psychological drama, and elements of the supernatural, the novel asks how the past survives within the present—and how recovering buried stories can reshape a nation’s understanding of itself.

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Oksana Zabuzhko
Country
Ukraine
Europe
About the author
Oksana Zabuzhko
Oksana Zabuzhko

Oksana Zabuzhko is a Ukrainian novelist, poet, essayist, and public intellectual, born in Lutsk, Ukraine, in 1960. She studied philosophy at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and earned a doctorate in philosophy of arts, specialising in aesthetics. Her academic background informs her writing, which examines Ukrainian identity, feminism, cultural memory, and the lasting effects of colonialism. Zabuzhko gained international recognition with her groundbreaking novel Field Work in Ukrainian Sex (1996), a bold exploration of female sexuality, gender inequality, and the relationship between personal experience and national identity. Her other major works include The Museum of Abandoned Secrets (2009), an ambitious novel tracing Ukrainian history across generations, and Notre Dame d’Ukraine, a study of writer and intellectual Lesya Ukrainka and her place in Ukrainian cultural history. Her writing combines literary experimentation with philosophical and historical inquiry, challenging dominant narratives and exploring how personal lives are shaped by political forces. Her books have been translated into more than twenty languages. Among her many honours are Ukraine’s Taras Shevchenko National Prize, awarded in 2019, and France’s National Order of the Legion of Honour, awarded in 2023. Zabuzhko remains one of the most influential voices in contemporary Ukrainian literature.

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Details
Published
2012
Author
Oksana Zabuzhko