Novels about love and passion, about married life and what happens between a man and a woman when nothing goes to plan.
Nominee of the Ukrainian literary prize Koronatsiia Slova (Coronation of the Word), International Recognition category, for the novel “Sofiia, Serhii and Others”
I started writing novels completely by chance. In fact, it was my wife who made me write.
Vyacheslav Tretyak
I, Vyacheslav Ivanovych Tretyak, was born on 27 October 1956 in the village of Strilsk, Sarny district, Rivne region, into a family of teachers. Like everyone, I went to school, then entered a teacher training institute, where I studied, enjoyed my youth and finally got married, to a former classmate, as it happens.
After graduating, I worked for twenty years in various posts in public education. Like everyone, I lived through financially hard times, looked for ways to earn extra money by holding several jobs, and gradually realised that my wife and I faced a poverty-stricken old age and could rely only on ourselves.
Believing that the prospect of ending up among beggars was beneath our dignity, and knowing it would be unwise to count on the state, my wife and I made the difficult decision to go to Italy and earn enough to guarantee ourselves a decent old age. We lived through hard times in a foreign country and worked hard and honestly, but today we feel fairly secure financially and hardly depend on a meagre pension.
I started writing novels completely by chance. In fact, it was my wife who made me write, because for some reason she decided I had a gift for it. And I am grateful to her, because I am not used to sitting idle. All my novels are about relationships between men and women, and I hope the subject will interest many readers.
Original title: «Сповідь не без гріха»
The story of a love that lasts a lifetime. Love like this exists. You rarely come across it, but it is real.
Yurko and Mariika: a teenage romance in a Ukrainian village, long years apart and a love that simply refused to die.
Original title: «Фотограф»
Can a photographer who shoots nudes love a woman the way ordinary men do?
For him, a woman’s body stopped being a mystery long ago. The author sets up a thought experiment: how does a profession change a person’s feelings?
Original title: «Імпотент»
What happens when infidelity shatters a happy family.
Kateryna, Vasyl’s happy wife, suddenly feels the urge to cheat on her husband. And Vasyl finds out at once.
Original title: «Підземелля»
New and familiar characters: the ones who quarrelled, made up and loved each other in “Confession Not Without Sin”. Now their son Tolia makes almost the same mistakes.
Science fiction, romance and adventure: Tolia, son of the heroes of “Confession Not Without Sin”, repeats his parents’ mistakes in his own way.
Original title: «Софія, Сергій та інші»
Sofiia and Serhii: two good people who loved each other.
Two good people who loved each other could not cope with everyday problems and divorced. A nominee of the Koronatsiia Slova literary prize.
English and other translation rights to all five novels are available. On this site you will find the opening chapters already translated into English and Italian, together with synopses and details of the Ukrainian editions.
Foreign publishers can apply for translation funding from the Translate Ukraine programme of the Ukrainian Book Institute, which supports the publication of Ukrainian literature abroad.
The author lives in Rome and can attend presentations, festivals and interviews in person.
“This is one of those books that won’t let you go from beginning to end. It gets deep inside you and settles somewhere at the bottom of your heart. The characters become dear and close. Sometimes it even feels as if they have always lived on the next street and you have known each other all your life.”
“Written simply and engagingly. Even the strong language that slips into the dialogue doesn’t get in the way; without it, it would feel less true. I don’t like descriptions of intimate scenes in books; they usually seem vulgar to me. But here everything is in its place, and without those scenes the characters’ feelings could not be conveyed the way they need to be.”
“The attentive reader will find funny passages, philosophical reflections and frankly intimate details of the characters’ lives, which some will criticise and others will accept as an inseparable part of life.”
Reviews translated from Ukrainian.
The author lives in Rome and is available for book presentations, reader meetings and interviews.