I dedicate this book to my parents, Valentina and Victor Sapritsky, who showed me how to care deeply about the world and the people we encounter. I am forever grateful for their gifts of kindness and love.

This book is also for my grandmother Mira (Gorelik) Sapritsky (1927–2003) and my great-aunt Valentina Tzirlina (1930–2022), whose lives, imbued with strength, wisdom, and courage, shaped me as a woman, a scholar, and a person. They continue to inspire me beyond their days. The dates of their passing mark the duration of this project, as if one set the course and the other was there to oversee it until the end. I miss them both immensely.

I also dedicate this book to all the Ukrainian women, children, and men who have lost their lives in this treacherous war and to those brave souls who have shown such tremendous resilience and unimaginable strength to fight for their freedom and to find meaning and joy in life.