Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award Winner, 2022 — Silver IPPY Award for Best Regional Fiction: Europe, 2023 — Finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards for First Novel, 2023 — Finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards for Multicultural Fiction, 2023 When their grandmother is lost after a trans-Atlantic flight, two Ukrainian-American sisters are swept into a quest across Eastern Europe to find the woman who always told more tales than truths. From Poland to Slovakia to Hungary and beyond, Larissa and Ira navigate the steps of Ukrainian folk dance, the cliff-side paths of Slovak Paradise National Park, and the stark realities of love and war. Their grandmother’s obsession with the wisdom and ferocity of Baba Yaga folktales is only the beginning of what they uncover. Larissa and Ira’s journey is cross-stitched with their grandmother’s narrative of survival within the epic panorama of World War II in Western Ukraine, where her coming of age echoes a country’s fight for identity and independence. For teenage Vira in 1941 and her modern-day granddaughters, understanding their family’s roots means everything. "Ukrainian culture is centered in a story that takes place all over the world, showing that it isn't necessarily a land that unites a people, it is a united people that create a culture ... This is 'edu-tainment' at its best." - Historical Novel Society Review "A complex, poetic tale, strongly linking past and present through folk art's rich traditions." -Kirkus Review " The Baba Yaga Mask is all heart and soul. A tender and thought provoking story that demonstrates the countless ways that a woman can be strong. A timeless tale that will touch readers across generations and around the globe." -Sadeqa Johnson, internationally bestselling author of Yellow Wife and The House of Eve " The Baba Yaga Mask is just like a Matryoshka Doll with its multi-layers, and stories within stories ... With Ukrainian folk-lore interwoven throughout, this is a real Magical Mystery Tour, with beautiful descriptive writing that makes you feel you are travelling through these wonderful countries too." -Love Reading UK " The Baba Yaga Mask is a fascinating journey that twists and turns through the streets of contemporary Eastern Europe as it traces lines back into a shrouded and difficult past... a wild ride through a legacy of love." -Laisha Rosnau, author of Little Fortress and Our Familiar Hunger "Spisak's delightful fiction debut is a compelling tale of lost-and-found and enlightenment. The result is part mystery and part fairytale but all gratifying." -Leah Weiss, bestselling author of If The Creek Don't Rise and All The Little Hopes "With hints of the fantastical, The Baba Yaga Mask is a multigenerational story of endurance and survival." -Foreword Review When I first signed my publishing deal for The Baba Yaga Mask   in 2021, I never imagined that my dual-timeline story, with chapters shifting between the present day and 1941 Ukraine (just outside of Lviv) would be so timely. But roughly eighty years before my 2022 publication date, Ukraine was in the midst of a different fight for independence, an invasion by foreign forces, a mass exodus of the country when so many women saw their homes destroyed and fled to save their families, while so many fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons stayed to fight against all odds. The parallels are heart-breakingly deep. Ukrainian stories are hardly the only stories the world should be paying attention to right now, but this is one I'm honored to share.