Every book and every person has his or her own destiny. At first destiny of the book is inseparably connected to the author’s destiny. Later on some intersection in life, their destinies separate from each other, like a person grown up and leaving his parents house, the book starts to live its own life.

The idea of this romance was born in the fall of 2001 in Chicago. There the first sketches of a future book were made.

In 2002 literal agent of Andrew V. Kudin – Vladimir Bumagnik was the first one to know about the plot of the book in Israel, and insisted that the book would be finished and published. Before that day, romance “A Handful of Soil” was a pile of sketches in the far end of the table.

It was a late summer evening, in Turkey, when we noticed that Andrew and Vladimir disappeared somewhere. They weren’t in the bar, or in the hotel room. After half an hour we found them on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. They were so carried away with their conversation that they didn’t notice that they walked a considerably far distance away from the hotel.

The next day Vladimir was suppose to go back to Israel, but the new book interested him so much that he changed his flight onto the next day.

In February 2003 Andrew V. Kudin was offered to write a screenplay for the film dedicated to Ukraine. For the screenplay’s base written by Andrew from February to March 203 became the subject line of the romance “A Handful of Soil”. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough money to continue, and the film was cancelled. .

In April 2003 Andrew V. Kudin goes to Chicago and there in the fall of 2003 finishes his work on the book.

Andrew always thought, that the outside appearance of the book – continues it’s inside contents. The outside appearance is supposed to complete its inside. It’s like we care what our child is wearing. Every person who has a child tries that his or her son, or daughter would be neatly and beautifully dressed. Same thing with a book, if the author truly cares about it and wrote it not only because of money, it’s far not indifferent how it’s published.

Unfortunately a lot of ancient traditions about how to publish a book were lost or forgotten. In Ukraine people are used to publishing books on toilet paper, trying to keep the least cost for publishing a book. To find publishers, who could publish the book on the professional level Andrew wanted, – was far not easy to find.   

 Here, Lyalya Fonareva came to help Andrew. As a manger of this project, Lyalya quickly formed a group of people, who were professionals and most of all interesting and great people. Under Lyalya’s management the model of the new book, illustrations, and press were started. During the publishing of the book Lyalya not only payed close attention to the professionalism but also what kind of energy they give to the book. The press which Lyalya chose was in the walls of the orthodox monastery, which itself is a symbol. From the fall of 2003, that day when Andrew gave his manuscript to Lyalya, romance “A Handful of Soil” started to live its own life.

The book was officially published on March 14, 2004, the first day of spring in the old calendar, even before the official publishing the manuscript of the book read a lot of people, and debates about the book are going since February 2003. Too many sharp questions are in the romance, too unusual point of view from which Andrew V. Kudin talks about Ukrainian history and Ukraine itself.

Right now Andrew V. Kudin is working on the new books that we can’t wait to be published.

N.Gromiko  12.04.2004