Roots in a Handbag: The Stories of Maria and Olga

Do our roots define our destiny? How do our journeys change us? For Maria and Olga Kozlova, answers to these questions were not just reflections; they were survival. Uprooted by revolutions and wars, they carried with them not only keepsakes, but traditions, values and the strength to start over again. Maria, once a high-society lady, kept her Russia alive in a dried rose from her mother’s garden and a dance card marked with her late husband’s name. Olga, her granddaughter, grew up in Harbin, China, the Paris of the Far East, longing for her absent parents. In Harbin, a city born of the Chinese Eastern Railway, émigrés built a beautiful old Russian universe, infused with the exotic rhythms of Manchuria. When that bubble burst, Olga too faced difficult choices. Roots in a Handbag is a literary chronicle of Maria, Olga and their kin’s lives, loves and legacy. But it also speaks to every migrant journey. It reminds us that emigration is never only about leaving. It is also about how we carry forward what matters most: memory, resilience, and the choice to remain human in the face of a constantly changing and often adverse world.