Winner of the 2025 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature
Gold Medal Winner for the 94th Annual California Book Awards
Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize A riveting debut novel, based on real events, about the price of secrecy, the weight of lies, and one man's drive to protect his family from his past. Ukraine, 2007. War veteran Yefim Shulman was beloved by his children, wife, and coworkers. But in the days after his death, his widow, Nina, finds a letter to the KGB in his briefcase. Yefim had a lifelong secret, and his confession forces Nina and her children to reassess the husband, father, and grandfather they thought they knew and the bonds they'd formed with him and each other. Following one family over the course of 70 years and three generations, Sasha Vasilyuk shines a light into the shadowy corners of a marriage marred by secrecy and the sacrifices people make to survive. Compassionate, gripping, and intimate, Your Presence Is Mandatory is "at once a historical epic, an engrossing family saga, and an astute examination of morality, survival, hope, and love" (Lara Prescott). “At once a historical epic, an engrossing family saga, and an astute examination of morality, survival, hope, and love, Your Presence Is Mandatory is a stunning feat.” ― Lara Prescott, New York Times bestselling author of THE SECRETS WE KEPT “A compelling exploration of both the distant past and more recent events . . . Vasilyuk's engagement with uncomfortable truths is chief among many reasons I think it's so important for my former compatriots to read her novel.” ― Los Angeles Review of Books “A gratifyingly specific portrait of a Jewish Ukrainian whose plight reflects that of his native country . . . Though Your Presence Is Mandatory focuses on one Ukrainian, it resonates far beyond Eastern Europe.” ― San Francisco Chronicle “Meticulously researched and incredibly gripping, Your Presence Is Mandatory is historical fiction at its finest.” ― Apple Books “A Ukrainian soldier survives World War II to face a lifetime of secrets . . . Chapters set during the war alternate with chapters set much later; to begin with, Yefim, as an old man, has just died, and among his papers, his wife has found a letter to the KGB that seems to indicate that much of what he has told his family about his wartime experiences was untrue. Vasilyuk, a journalist as well as a debut novelist, sets out to comb through all this with patience, subtlety, and finesse.” ― Kirkus Reviews “Early reviewers are raving about this debut that touches on themes of guilt and betrayal, family and friendship.” ― Goodreads “Vasilyuk manages to capture both the story's intimate drama and its epic qualities, telling the story of a double life and its reverberations across borders and generations.” ― Crimereads “Vasilyuk is an acclaimed journalist, but in this novel, she is first and foremost a sensitive, lyrical storyteller, who brings attention to the tragic history of Ukraine that began decades before the earliest events in the book and is yet unfolding. But there is more – the very nature of the story in this book calls us to engage gently and compassionately with generational trauma, rather than burying it and passing it on. Structuring the novel around a secret long buried, Vasilyuk calls us all to honesty and openness with ourselves and with our loved ones: no matter where and when we live, we desire to know those we love and be known by them.” ― Plough “An absorbing historical drama that spans from WWII to the current Russian-Ukraine conflict. Vasiluk is tender and caring with her characters and her setting. Fans of All The Light We Cannot See will find the perfect historical novel with this book.” ― Debutiful, “Most Anticipated Debut Books of 2024” “This extraordinary debut is the best kind of historical fiction-an emotionally complex and heartrending saga that takes us to unfamiliar places in unfamiliar times and makes them feel known and lived.” ― Meg Waite Clayton, internationally bestselling author of THE POSTMISTRESS OF PARIS “Journalist Sasha Vasilyuk works magic in the gray areas of history, weaving her compelling debut historical novel out of the shadowy overlap between survival, secrecy, and guilt. Ukrainian-Jewish Yefim Shulman fights through his time in the Red Army, but war and captivity will leave him with secrets he cannot tell his family. Struggling to build a life postwar in a regime where the wrong lie-or truth-means exile and death, Yefim makes choices that echo through the decades and generations to come. Your Presence Is Mandatory is an important, moving read that will resonate long in the reader's memory.” ― Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of THE ALICE NETWORK “Vasilyuk draws on her family background to illuminate the personal, cultural, and experiential . . . Full of devastating pathos and elucidation of how war and, especially, fascist and communist mindsets destroy one
Gold Medal Winner for the 94th Annual California Book Awards
Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize A riveting debut novel, based on real events, about the price of secrecy, the weight of lies, and one man's drive to protect his family from his past. Ukraine, 2007. War veteran Yefim Shulman was beloved by his children, wife, and coworkers. But in the days after his death, his widow, Nina, finds a letter to the KGB in his briefcase. Yefim had a lifelong secret, and his confession forces Nina and her children to reassess the husband, father, and grandfather they thought they knew and the bonds they'd formed with him and each other. Following one family over the course of 70 years and three generations, Sasha Vasilyuk shines a light into the shadowy corners of a marriage marred by secrecy and the sacrifices people make to survive. Compassionate, gripping, and intimate, Your Presence Is Mandatory is "at once a historical epic, an engrossing family saga, and an astute examination of morality, survival, hope, and love" (Lara Prescott). “At once a historical epic, an engrossing family saga, and an astute examination of morality, survival, hope, and love, Your Presence Is Mandatory is a stunning feat.” ― Lara Prescott, New York Times bestselling author of THE SECRETS WE KEPT “A compelling exploration of both the distant past and more recent events . . . Vasilyuk's engagement with uncomfortable truths is chief among many reasons I think it's so important for my former compatriots to read her novel.” ― Los Angeles Review of Books “A gratifyingly specific portrait of a Jewish Ukrainian whose plight reflects that of his native country . . . Though Your Presence Is Mandatory focuses on one Ukrainian, it resonates far beyond Eastern Europe.” ― San Francisco Chronicle “Meticulously researched and incredibly gripping, Your Presence Is Mandatory is historical fiction at its finest.” ― Apple Books “A Ukrainian soldier survives World War II to face a lifetime of secrets . . . Chapters set during the war alternate with chapters set much later; to begin with, Yefim, as an old man, has just died, and among his papers, his wife has found a letter to the KGB that seems to indicate that much of what he has told his family about his wartime experiences was untrue. Vasilyuk, a journalist as well as a debut novelist, sets out to comb through all this with patience, subtlety, and finesse.” ― Kirkus Reviews “Early reviewers are raving about this debut that touches on themes of guilt and betrayal, family and friendship.” ― Goodreads “Vasilyuk manages to capture both the story's intimate drama and its epic qualities, telling the story of a double life and its reverberations across borders and generations.” ― Crimereads “Vasilyuk is an acclaimed journalist, but in this novel, she is first and foremost a sensitive, lyrical storyteller, who brings attention to the tragic history of Ukraine that began decades before the earliest events in the book and is yet unfolding. But there is more – the very nature of the story in this book calls us to engage gently and compassionately with generational trauma, rather than burying it and passing it on. Structuring the novel around a secret long buried, Vasilyuk calls us all to honesty and openness with ourselves and with our loved ones: no matter where and when we live, we desire to know those we love and be known by them.” ― Plough “An absorbing historical drama that spans from WWII to the current Russian-Ukraine conflict. Vasiluk is tender and caring with her characters and her setting. Fans of All The Light We Cannot See will find the perfect historical novel with this book.” ― Debutiful, “Most Anticipated Debut Books of 2024” “This extraordinary debut is the best kind of historical fiction-an emotionally complex and heartrending saga that takes us to unfamiliar places in unfamiliar times and makes them feel known and lived.” ― Meg Waite Clayton, internationally bestselling author of THE POSTMISTRESS OF PARIS “Journalist Sasha Vasilyuk works magic in the gray areas of history, weaving her compelling debut historical novel out of the shadowy overlap between survival, secrecy, and guilt. Ukrainian-Jewish Yefim Shulman fights through his time in the Red Army, but war and captivity will leave him with secrets he cannot tell his family. Struggling to build a life postwar in a regime where the wrong lie-or truth-means exile and death, Yefim makes choices that echo through the decades and generations to come. Your Presence Is Mandatory is an important, moving read that will resonate long in the reader's memory.” ― Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of THE ALICE NETWORK “Vasilyuk draws on her family background to illuminate the personal, cultural, and experiential . . . Full of devastating pathos and elucidation of how war and, especially, fascist and communist mindsets destroy one