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Long before the annexation of Crimea, she realised that she was Ukrainian. Neither her grandfather, a KGB lieutenant colonel, nor the Russian blood in her veins could stop her from doing so. Her childhood friendship with a Crimean Tatar woman and her acquaintance with this culture became the seed that would later grow into a search for herself and her own national identity.

The novel intertwines Crimean Tatar culture, Ukrainian literature, and family secrets. Together with the protagonist and her friends, the Crimean Tatar Aliye and the Ukrainian Aliona, the reader goes a long way from the girls' childhood to the annexation of Crimea by Russia : "There is no land beyond the Perekop", meaning that it doesn't matter what happens across the isthmus, on the mainland. Anastasia Levkova's novel shows that there is land on both sides of the Perekop. It's just a matter of getting to know it and stitching it together - opening up the mainland to Crimea, and Crimea to the mainland.

Work on the book has been going on since 2012. With the beginning of the occupation of Crimea in 2014, the concept changed. During this time, the author conducted about 200 interviews with more than 50 Crimeans. The details of their stories became part of the novel.

Executor: Anastasia Levkova
Duration: 15:24:00