A riveting debut novel, based on real events, about the price of secrecy, the weight of lies, and one man's drive to protect his family from his past.

Ukraine, 2007. War veteran Yefim Shulman was beloved by his children, wife and coworkers. But in the days after his death, his widow, Nina, finds a letter to the KGB in his briefcase. Yefim had a lifelong secret, and his confession forces Nina and her children to reassess the husband, father and grandfather they thought they knew and the bonds they'd formed with him and each other.

Following one family over the course of 70 years and three generations, Sasha Vasilyuk shines a light into the shadowy corners of a marriage marred by secrecy and the sacrifices people make to survive. Compassionate, gripping and intimate, YOUR PRESENCE IS MANDATORY is "at once a historical epic, an engrossing family saga, and an astute examination of morality, survival, hope, and love" (Lara Prescott).