Why don't I have a papa like other people? Why doesn't he take care of us? Doesn't he love me?

Over and over Larissa asked herself questions like this—but there were no answers. At least I have a mama who loves me. She knew that was more than her mother Nadia had when she was growing up.

Nadia's childhood had been anything but easy. With a father who rejected her and a mentally disturbed mother who tried to kill her, life was tough. Her uncle had said God would help her if she kissed the little cross he gave her and recited the Lord's Prayer. But was there really a God in heaven who heard her? How could she find out?

Fatherless is the story of the author's wife Larissa and her mother as they grew up in Ukraine during the waning years of communism. It is a story that vividly portrays the pain and bondage of a life of sin. It also points to the One who can free us from that bondage—the God in heaven who is a Father to all who seek Him, even the fatherless.

Table of Contents

• 1. Fatherless
• 2. Troubled Roots
• 3. Raised by the Government
• 4. Another Failed Attempt
• 5. God Under the Stairs
• 6. Building the USSR
• 7. Born in Siberia
• 8. Not Without My Daughter
• 9. Back to Ukraine
• 10. Place to Place
• 11. Improvements
• 12. What's Yours Is Mine
• 13. The Americans
• 14. Shtundists or Orthodox?
• 15. The Food Parcel
• 16. Mama's Story
• 17. Orphanage Life
• 18. A Sudden Death
• 19. Spain
• 20. Adoption?
• 21. The New House
• 22. Keep Climbing
• 23. Black Sea Summer
• 24. New Desires
• 25. The Struggle
• 26. Friendships
• 27. Sewing College
• 28. Cross-Cultural Relationship
• 29. Engaged
• 30. Crushed
• 31. Bible Camp
• 32. The Visa
• 33. A New World
• 34. An Understanding Heart
• 35. Married Twice
• 36. Immigration
• 37. Godly Seed
• Epilogue
• About the Author