Life Beyond Fear: A Ukrainian Woman’s Memoir
Life Beyond Fear chronicles the harrowing journey of a Ukrainian woman and her family, forced to flee their war-torn homeland in search of safety, hope, and a new beginning. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, life as Natalie Oceanheart’s family knew it crumbled overnight. Oceanheart woke up her two small children to explain that their city was under attack, moved her elderly parents to safety, and ultimately moved her family to the United States. Yet the war had been shadowing their lives since 2014, with Russia’s first invasion.
Through raw and honest storytelling, Oceanheart traces her family’s path from the bombed streets of Ukraine to the uncertain crossroads of Europe, and finally to the United States, where they navigated an unfamiliar culture and rebuilt their lives as immigrants while carrying the invisible weight of trauma and loss. Oceanheart captures not only the horrors of war but also the small moments of humanity that shine through in the darkest times—the kindness of strangers, the strength of family, and the enduring hope for peace.
Life Beyond Fear is more than a personal story: It is a testament to the resilience of families displaced by war, the complexities of immigration, and the universal human quest for safety, belonging, and freedom.
“Natalie Oceanheart’s unsparing account of war is told with both a psychologist’s eye for human observation and a woman’s heartache at being in the center of an impossible situation. This memoir of surviving the war in Ukraine and becoming a refugee serves as a crucial reminder of both our humanity and inhumanity.”—Katya Cengel, author of From Chernobyl with Love: Reporting from the Ruins of the Soviet Union
Praise for Life Beyond Fear
Published by Potomac Books (University of Nebraska Press).
“For all who have endured war, displacement, and loss, or carry that legacy within their families, may we find in Natalie Oceanheart’s Life Beyond Fear a reminder of our shared hope for one humanity and lasting peace.”—Joanie Holzer Schirm, author of My Dear Boy: A World War II Story of Escape, Exile, and Revelation