God Save Me From My Friends: Memoir of a Ukrainian Exile is not just a personal story – it is a testimony for our time. Written with care and documented in detail, it carries the voice of a generation that endured exile, war, and survival. In today’s terrible moment of renewed conflict in Europe, this memoir meets its hour: a thunderclap reminder that history is not distant, but alive in memory, and that witness is our duty.
This book is not about recognition – it is about truth. It is a lens through which readers can see the past and understand the present. To read it now is to stand alongside testimony, and to carry forward the dignity of those who refused to be silenced.
This edition makes something clear that earlier versions could not: my Father’s words and my reflections belong together. His testimony and my witness form a dialogue across time. The meaning of the story emerges not from either voice alone, but from the space between them. It is not just his story, but now mine also.
One moment in his life captures this truth more clearly than any explanation could. In the spring of 1944, as he was taken from his village, his Mother pressed a wooden spoon into his hand. No speeches. No farewells. Just a quiet act of care at the edge of an unknown future. For years, I believed this was simply a private family memory. But as I have written this memoir, I have come to understand that it is something larger – an archetype of loss, repeated in every war, every exile, every forced departure. It is the moment when love and separation meet, silently, without ceremony.
War makes such moments abrupt and cruel, but the underlying truth is universal: we all must part from those we love, and they from us. What my Father lived through is simply the most distilled, unforgiving version of that truth.
This memoir is therefore not only a conversation between my Father and me, but also a vigil – a candle of memory kept alight for those who were uprooted, scattered, or erased. It reminds us that the tragedy of war is not strategy or ideology, but the partings that leave no trace except in the heart.
I was reminded of this again today when I saw a young Ukrainian girl who had been forced to leave her homeland for safety in the United States. She spoke with courage, yet the sadness beneath her words was unmistakable – the same sadness my parents carried when they arrived in Britain, far from everything they knew. Her story, like theirs, is part of a long human thread of loss, resilience, and the fragile hope of beginning again.
Announcement
I am delighted to share that the updated edition of my book is now live. This project has been a journey of extraordinary scope: a multilingual, multi‑artefact, multi‑document work that weaves together voices, histories, and perspectives across cultures and time.
From the beginning, my aim was not simply to tell a story, but to create a living archive – a book that reflects the richness and complexity of memory itself. It brings together documents, testimonies, and reflections in several languages, alongside artefacts that carry their own weight of meaning.
Producing such a work has been no small task. The complexity of the format, the challenge of integrating diverse materials, and the responsibility of ensuring clarity and readability have all been part of the journey. To see it now corrected, updated, and available to readers is a profound relief and a source of pride.
This edition represents the definitive version: clearer, more polished, and faithful to the vision I set out to achieve. While no book of such scale is ever “perfect,” it is now fully readable and accessible, and I believe it captures the essence of what I hoped to convey.
Above all, this book is a testament to resilience – both in the story it tells and in the process of bringing it to life. I hope readers will find in it not only history, but also humanity, and a reminder of the values that endure across languages, cultures, and generations.
What I once believed belonged only to the archive of history has returned in another form, reminding us that testimony is never finished, and that the past is always waiting to break through the present.
Welcome
This site is a companion to the memoir – a place where reflections and meditations offer further light on the encounters, histories, and themes within the book. Over time, I will be adding essays and commentaries that deepen the context of the memoir and explore its wider meanings.
These pieces will appear under two sections:
Candle in the Window-Reflections of Witness
More personal meditations closely connected to the memoir.
Reflections
Broader essays on history, memory, and the world the memoir inhabits.
I warmly welcome comments and impressions from readers. Dialogue keeps testimony alive.
Scale Modelling and Historical Witness
Alongside the memoir, this site also includes a section on my lifelong practice of model building. These models are not merely hobbies, but part of the same work of witness: acts of care, patience, and remembrance. They form a quiet, parallel archive – a way of honouring the past through craft and attention.
Acknowledgement
This site, and the work it presents, could not have come into being without the support of my nephew, Paul Bishop. He provided the theatre in which I could speak, the technical stage, the props, and the unseen backup without which I would have been totally adrift. His contribution has been vital, though mostly behind the scenes. Much of my motivation has been to give this work to him as a legacy-our legacy-so that he will have something to hold onto when his Uncle is no longer in the theatre.
Some examples from my modelling collection:
Great work