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Books

Favoured Among Women

By Hedy Leonora Martens

CMU Press, 407 pages, $25

THIS is a detailed and touching portrait of a Mennonite woman during the harsh early years of Soviet Russia.

Billed as a “biographical novel” and “the first of two volumes,” it recounts the life of Greta Enns, a real person who was born in a village called Sergeivka in what is now Ukraine.

Winnipeg author Hedy Leonora Martens uses universal themes of love, faith, gratitude, oppression and loss to connect the reader with a rather distant historical experience.

Her title refers to the biblical Gospel of Luke, where the angel Gabriel speaks to Mary, mother of Jesus.

Martens’ parents immigrated to Canada after the 1917 Russian Revolution. Also, her husband is a distant cousin of Enns. Martens based her novel on years of research and on interviews with Enns and other family members.

Unlike in conventional historical fiction, Martens takes very few liberties with her protagonist’s character, and so it reads more like a standard biography than a novel. Philippa Gregory or Vanora Bennett this is not.

Some readers may also disagree with idealized the way Martens portrays Russian Mennonite society prior to revolution.

The novel opens in 1909 in Czarist Russia in the village of Sergeivka when Greta is six. Greta is a fortunate child, and she knows it. She enjoys simple pleasures such as helping her Mama bake, playing with her best friend, swimming and eating traditional food.

But then her world is violently shaken by political unrest, which leads up to the Bolshevik revolution.

Suddenly, her peaceful community is threatened by hunger, poverty and war.

The once tight-knit Mennonite community unravels as neighbours — and even family members — began to harbour suspicions and accusations against one another.

“Surely Mennonites should stick up for Mennonites!” the young Greta thinks.

As Greta grows up, she and her family face constant challenges from an increasingly brutal government regime, yet her strong faith in God, family ties and optimistic nature help her navigate this unhappy new reality.

“She must remember… to be grateful for each little bit God gave her, and to make use of it, because you never knew what it might yield,” Martens writes of her heroine.

Martens includes excerpts from history books, scholarly articles and interviews about Mennonite life in Russia and about the Stalin and Lenin regimes. She also includes excerpts from songs and poems written by those who lived in those times.

At times, she speaks directly to the reader, reflecting on her gratitude to be born Canadian, her sorrow for those who suffer oppression, and her admiration for Greta.

Martens’ passion for her subject is obvious and softens what could have been a dry, forensic historical account.

On the other hand, Martens’ desire to stay as historically accurate as possible interferes with character development.

She uses very little psychological speculation about her characters, so at times they come across as one-dimensional.

Another weakness is that Martens doesn’t properly explain the reasons for the fall of old Russia or the dynamics of the Soviet regime. But her novel is nonetheless a valuable look into Mennonite life in Soviet Russia.

Winnipeg writer Kathryne Cardwell works at the University of Manitoba.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 2, 2011 J9