Fiica unui Erou al Uniunii Sovietice

by Andreï Makine, Ileana Cantuniari (Translator)

Punctul de cotitură al vieții lui Ivan este războiul. La Stalingrad a câștigat cea mai înaltă distincție militară, iar pe un câmp de bătălie unde zăcea rănit a cunoscut-o pe Tatiana, iubirea vieții lui. Anii de pace, în loc să recompenseze sacrificiile eroilor, sunt și ei tragici, numai că ororile se strecoară lent în viață de zi cu zi. Soclurile încep să se clatine, promisiunea viitorului luminos este înlocuită de certitudinea prezentului sordid fără ieșire, numai că nimeni nu are dreptul să spună lucrurilor pe nume. Rămas văduv și silit să joace în continuare comedia patriotismului de paradă, Ivan își amăgește singurătatea cu alcool. Singura rază de lumină din realitatea tristă este Olia, fiica lui, ce pare să se numere printre învingători. Însă tânăra ascunde un secret rușinos: șantajată de K.G.B. pentru o aventură de-o noapte, Olga a devenit prostituată de lux în slujba serviciilor secrete sovietice. Ce se va întâmpla când tatăl va afla despre suprema înjosire la care îi sunt supuse numele și familia?

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Russia, France, War, Literary Fiction, Contemporary

196 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Andreï Makine was born in Krasnoyarsk, Soviet Union on 10 September 1957 and grew up in city of Penza, a provincial town about 440 miles south-east of Moscow. As a boy, having acquired familiarity with France and its language from his French-born grandmother (it is not certain whether Makine had a French grandmother; in later interviews he claimed to have learnt French from a friend), he wrote poems in both French and his native Russian.

In 1987, he went to France as member of teacher's exchange program and decided to stay. He was granted political asylum and was determined to make a living as a writer in French. However, Makine had to present his first manuscripts as translations from Russian to overcome publishers' skepticism that a newly arrived exile could write so fluently in a second language. After disappointing reactions to his first two novels, it took eight months to find a publisher for his fourth, Le testament français. Finally published in 1995 in France, the novel became the first in history to win both the Prix Goncourt and the Prix Medicis plus the Goncourt des Lycéens.

Reviews

[Hugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have almost completed my long-term goal of reading all of the Makine novels that have been published in English, and have now found second hand copies of all of his early works, and now have ony one more to read (The Crime of Olga Arbyelina).

This one is his first novel, and sets many of the themes for what was to follow - it mixes sections set in the present and past and contrasts the experiences of different generations of Russians, and it is written in his now characteristic style. The present in this one is Russia during the Gorbachev glasnost/perestroika era. The Hero of the book's title is Ivan, whose war history earned him a "Hero of the Soviet Union" medal, and who has become a disreputable alcoholic since being widowed. The daughter Olya works as a translator/spy, and her job involves seducing Western visitors. This makes for an unusually bleak story by Makine's standards, and the book is probably one I would only recommend to Makine completists.

[Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

A soldier marries the nurse who saved his life on the battlefield. He is awarded a medal as a Hero of the Soviet Union, and goes on to build himself a life after the war with his little family - him, wife and a daughter.

Fast forward a couple of decades and the family are still surviving and getting on with life. The Hero's medal gives him some kudos and a profile in the community. He is a regular guest of honour at the veterans day event at the local school for instance.

Then disaster. The wife is killed queuing for butter - a piece of shrapnel lodged in her body means that she could go at any time, and the pushing and shoving in the queue is fatal.

Our Hero finds solace in a bottle, and soon he is a vodka soaked drunk, despised by all. The daughter has been to college to study languages and has a prestigious job in Moscow as an interpreter for Western businessmen.

Gradually our hero realises that his daughters job is barely disguised prostitution - she spies on the businessmen she sleeps with. That does not lighten his mood.

As ever with Makine he shines a spotlight on a murky corner of Russian society. This is a bleak, grim little tale.

[Horia Bura · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a literary debut, this a very well-written novel, Makine confirming his value also through the subsequent books he published. Essentially, what I'm left with after reading this novel is the both sad and ironic approach of the state of a Russian war hero, namely the antithesis between warrior posture presumed to be glorious (which is, actually, counterfeit to some extent) and his bitter postwar destiny that will train not only his wife (a veteran herself), but his daughter too - whom the novel narrates indirectly, her mention in the title of the book being somewhat confusing -, who doesn't exactly behave as an offspring of a hero of the Soviet Union.

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, I just cannot fault Andreï Makine. Even as a Russian, writing in French and translated into English, his writing is perfect. This story is as wonderfully and humanly haunting as The Earth and Sky of Jacques Dorme which I read and fell in love with five years ago, which also includes the striking motif of a starry sky seen through a broken ceiling. I don't know why I remembered that when I read it in this story, but it's an enduring image that had buried itself in my memory until now.

This isn't merely a novella, it is densely filled with the poignancy of the struggle to survive, it is intensely human. This is why, I think, I have such visceral reactions to his books, they open me up to these worlds that are completely alien to me but then show me that our lives bear this same essential commonality: that in the end we are all in this to survive, and that in order to do that we do what we have to do.

[Joëlle Tétreault · Rating 4 out of 5]

On m'a présenté Andreï Makine pour la première fois dans un cours de Théories de la traduction. Génie du russe et du français, le docteur ès lettres a quitté la Russie pour s'exiler en France, durant les années de la chute du Mur. Ce premier roman, rédigé en français, s'est vu refuser par toutes les maisons d'éditions. Makine tente le coup: il invente une traductrice, Françoise Bour, et un agrégé de littérature Russe qui aurait révisé son oeuvre. Il change des mots de son manuscrit pour des mots russes, ajoute une trentaine de N.d.T (pour deux cents pages...) et bim, Robert Laffont tombe dans le piège et l'édite illico. Deux romans plus tard, Makine gagne le Goncourt avec Le Testament français. Le subterfuge est dévoilé par la suite, car quelqu'un se rend bien compte que cette Françoise n'existe pas. Il y avait donc vraiment un profilage des noms des écrivains. Ce roman ne pouvait avoir été écrit que par un auteur traduit. Et vlan aux conceptions étroites de l'intelligentsia française! C'est donc après une séance de trois heures sur les pseudo traductions que j'ai eu envie de lire Makine. J'ai bien fait. Il a une écriture aérée et efficace. Les descriptions sont vraiment très adroites et concises. On y raconte le quotidien sous le régime soviétique, de la deuxième guerre aux années quatre-vingts, mais aussi le parcours d'un Héros de l'union soviétique qui finit dans l'oubli le plus total. Sa fille, grâce à son statut de descendante d'un Héros, bénéficie de privilèges auxquels je n'aurais jamais songé, moi, Nord-Américaine. On fait la file pour des plaquettes de beurre, on s'entasse dans des appartements, on "travaille" pour le K.G.B...
Un roman de l'Est, écrit en Occident, avec un petit goût de Kundera et de la poussière de Borissov.

[Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not my first book by Makinë so I was already familiar was his form of criticizing Soviet regimes. There’s never a direct attack on governments, only a story of its consequences. Here we have a hero of the Battle of Stalingrad, and although he returns to an ordinary proletarian life afterwards as just more worker, he’s honored for the rest of his life with this distinction, with all the privileges and responsibilities; for example, he and his wife, the nurse who saved his life in the first pages of the book by realizing that he was alive and not one of the battlefield dead, are able to jump the queues for food or whatever suddenly appears on the market. He dusts off his medals and uniform and appears at the local school every Patriot’s Day to give the carefully rehearsed speech about his role in the Battle of Stalingrad and students ask their properly rehearsed patriotic questions, dovetailing it all to propagandistic vision of the Soviet state. The problem is that he buys into it a bit, in my opinion, and when his life disintegrates, and his status as a hero is no longer so revered among the people, the privileges resented, he can’t adapt and the hero falls into disgrace – and the biggest disgrace is how his daughter is asked to serve the state in her own manner, and is not as honored for her role. It’s a subtle but bitter tale of what Soviet society became and well worth the time to read it, to experience the hypocrisy of ALL societies who honor their heroes – but only if they go along with the party line and don’t become a burden and embarrassment to them.

[Nikos79 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second book I have read by Makine in pretty short time. After reading "The life of an unknown man", an excellent reading in my opinion, I have promised myself to try the author again. Only after I read The hero's daughter I realized that its his first written novel if I 'm not that wrong. I can't say I was fully satisfied like I did with the previous one, but still it is a good book and you wont loose your time reading it. Also for first writing, Makine did a good job, he uses good language and his story is very interesting. And as it seems he got much more mature in the future. I found similarities in these two books such as recollection of the past, historical and political background and comparing generations and I guess these are some of his favorite topics on which he builds his plots. I 'll read more of him, I think I found a very good writer.

[Joan Damiens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good and sad book about the decadence of the Russian society after WWII. After 1945, life was full of promises. War was over. Russia won. The future was bright. But nothing really happened. Disappointment, delusion were the only ending of the story.
This book deals with a former soldier who fought and survived. Considered as a hero of the Stalingrad fight, he married a nurse who saved his life. They faced poverty, starvation, but had a daughter, Olia. She never fought in war, but her life was definitely a much more subtle conflict.

I really recommend this wonderful read. But so sad...

[Gali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good descriptions of life back in those times, so many small details bringing back memories. Of course, I should have known that nothing would be fun and games in this book but I still didn't expect it to be so bad - or maybe for it to touch me so.

[Oana Mokesch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Războiul a fost, este și va fi mereu, cea mai oribilă invenție a omenirii. Și, mai îngrozitoare decât sacrificiul vieților soldaților, frânte ca niște crenguțe, sunt crimele împotriva civililor. Copii, bătrâni și alți oameni lipsiți de apărare au fost chinuiți și uciși doar pentru plăcerea bolnavă a celor ce dețineau puterea în acel moment, armata intra peste ei în case, nimicind totul în cale... Micuțul Kolka este doar un simbol pentru nenumăratele victime neștiute. Pe mulți nici nu a mai avut cine să-i plângă...
M-a înfuriat concepția că o femeie, care nu mai era „perfectă” din punct de vedere fizic, nu mai avea dreptul de a juca rolul de soție și de a fi iubită. Desigur, dacă lucrurile stăteau invers, sunt sigură că era obligația morală a femeii de a îngriji bărbatul devenit neputincios, în timp ce ea trebuia abandonată. M-am bucurat că el, chiar dacă inițial a făcut-o dintr-un soi de milă, a trecut peste hidoasa concepție că femeia trebuia să-i fie de folos și nu putea fi iubită așa, pur și simplu, fără niciun beneficiu.
Urâte vremuri descrie această carte: război, foamete, timpuri când mortalitatea infantilă era în floare și nici locuitul la comun, patru familii într-un apartament, nu avea nimic de invidiat.
Sunt recunoscătoare că nu a, trăit pe vremea statului la coadă, doar am auzit îngrozitoarele povești. Pentru personajele din carte însă, după două runde de foamete și un război între ele, cozile interminabile la care poate prindeai, poate nu prindeai produsul dorit, erau totuși un pas în față.
Destinele nefericite ale acestor oameni sunt înduioșătoare. E deranjant contrastul dintre statutul de Erou, respectiv veterană rănită și condițiile lor de trai. Fiica îmbrățișează o carieră mai puțin nobilă, dar bine plătită, condamnabilă și nu prea. În schimb, pentru faptul că ea avea acces la un anumit nivel de lux, dar nu se prea interesează de părinții ei amărâți, o găsesc vinovată. Dormea liniștită în brațele „obiectelor” în timp ce mama ei moare în învălmășeală, pentru niște unt, iar tatăl ei, luptându-se cu depresia, își duce traiul într-o beție continuă care, speră el, îi va aduce sfârșitul mai repede.
Povara bătrâneții este ilustrată puternic în această carte, din tinerii soldați , care, pe vremea când erau în putere, au luptat și au îndurat lucruri de nedescris, au ajuns niște moșnegi gârboviți, slabi și fără apărare...
Nu pot înțelege decizia de a-ți numi bebelușul după alți doi bebeluși acre au sfârșit în chinuri, mie acel nume îmi pare rău-prevestitor.
Sper doar că Olia a reușit să răscumpere Steaua...

[_Ulalume_ · Rating 5 out of 5]

C’était une magnifique histoire. Incroyablement touchante, saisssante, mais surtout, très très triste… L’ensemble du livre m’a émue, à des moments différents.

Basée sur l’Histoire Soviétique, on s’immerge dans la Russie et l’URSS de l’après-guerre, puis dans l’Union Soviétique de la Guerre Froide, puis finalement dans les années 80 où Ivan, le personnage principal, est un vieil homme. Un vieux Héros de qui plus personne ne semble vouloir entendre l’histoire, ce qui le mène petit à petit à se laisser flétrir. Ivan me touche réellement par son désespoir subi, l’injsutice, le rejet, la douleur qu’il ressent, que la force de son Étoile d’or ne suffit pas à guérir. Il finit par mourir dans un contexte déplorable, seul et démuni.

Olia, la deuxième protagoniste, n’est autre que sa fille. Celle de qui on suit l’histoire parallèle, la jeune interprète du Centre. Douce et solitaire, elle rappelle Tatiana, sa maman. Elle vend son charme russe à de riches hommes qui perçoivent sa candeur, elle vit de cette activité de vices avec presque une innoncence pour laquelle on ne lui en veut pas. Elle révèle son coeur tendre et sincère dans sa relation avec son père et son histoire à lui : “Elle s’était mise à pleurer quand, même en ouvrant son sac, elle avait vu tout au fond, là où se perdaient d’habitude tantôt les clefs, tantôt le rouge à lèvres, l’Étoile d’or. « Cela, c’est toujours sa vie, pensait-elle avec une tendre amertume. Il croit qu’il y a encore des gens pour se souvenir de cette guerre lointaine, de cet amour sur le front… ils sont tous comme des enfants. Toute une génération de grands enfants trompés. »”. Elle est peut-être la seule à comprendre son pauvre père, et c’est pourquoi elle lui rend hommage en remuant ciel et terre pour lui offrir un enterrement digne, à la fin du livre.

Tant le père que la fille se meuvent dans cette Union Soviétique où finalement tout se sépare et plus rien ne fait sens dans cette Histoire qui évolue sans eux. "La fille d’un Héros de l’Union soviétique" raconte alors l’Histoire d’un Héros, et de ce qu’est la fille d’un Héros. L’unique incarnation et l’héritage déchu d’une Histoire désuète.

Cette histoire rend hommage à Ivan et nous touche au plus profond de nos sentiments pour qu’on s’incline devant son Étoile d’Or.

[Socrate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cât de fragil şi de straniu este totul pe lumea asta…

Viaţa lui, bunăoară, atârnase doar de ciobul acela de oglindă care-şi pierduse luciul şi de degetele învineţite de frig ale unei infirmiere de pe ambulanţă, subţirică precum o adolescentă.

Stătea culcat pe câmpul acela de primăvară brăzdat de tancuri, în mijlocul a sute de uniforme militare înţepenite peste noapte într-un morman îngheţat. La stânga, dintr-un crater negru, bârne rupte îşi înălţau vârfurile sfârtecate. Foarte aproape, cu roţile afundate într-o tranşee pe jumătate surpată, un tun antitanc se cabra spre cer.

Înainte de război, dacă se lua după ce scria în cărţi, îşi închipuia câmpul de luptă cu totul altfel: soldaţi aliniaţi cu grijă în iarba fragedă, ca şi cum ar fi avut timp, înainte să moară, să adopte o poziţie anume, semnificativă, sugerată de moarte. Fiecare cadavru dezvăluia astfel solitudinea întâlnirii sale cu moartea. Şi se putea arunca o privire peste chipul oricăruia dintre ei, unul întorcându-şi ochii spre norii care se îndepărtau agale, altul atingând cu obrazul pământul negru.

De aceea, când mersese pentru prima oară de-a lungul pajiştii acoperite de morţi, nu remarcase nimic. Mergea, trăgându-şi cu greu cizmele din făgaşurile drumului de toamnă, cu privirea aţintită la spinarea omului din faţă, la vestonul militar cenuşiu şi decolorat pe care străluceau micile picături lăsate de ceaţă.

[Georgiana Geo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Abia am terminat cartea.
Imi este putin greu sa imi scriu parerea. Nu stiu sigur ce sa spun despre ea.
Mi-a plăcut si m-a întristat mult. Nu este o carte ce se poate digera usor.
Povestea Oliei nu este roz, nici a familiei ei.
Cu un tata ce devine Erou Sovietic, o mama bolnavă, s-a ținut totusi de scoala, dar munca pe care o are, sa zicem ca nu e chiar mândră de ea.
Munceste ca traducătoare intr-un Centru, dar pe langa asta, obținerea de informatii de la oameni importanti, devine o problemă. De multe ori se gândește la viata ei, la serile pe care le pierde cu asa zișii oameni de vază si realizeaza cât este de nefericită. Isi doreste sa se căsătorească, chiar este pe punctul de a o face, dar părinții lui sunt piedica.
Despre tatăl ei as putea spune multe, dar nu vreau sa dau spoilere. Nu pot scrie despre el, fără să intru in detalii. Cred ca din tot conținutul cărții, cel mai mult m-a "afectat" momentul cand a aflat că fata lui e prostituată.
E putin greoaie cartea, chiar dacă se citește ușor, lipsa dialogului, nu stiu, poate si lipsa aventurii. Asteptam sa se întâmple mereu ceva sa imi creasca adrenalina 😅, sa ma faca sa dau repede paginile, dar in zadar. Am dus-o la capăt cu chiu cu vai.
Ii dau 5 ☆ pentru ca Ivan merita.

[Inès · Rating 2 out of 5]

J'avais adoré le "Testament Français" mais je n'ai pas du tout accroché à celui-là, pourtant je suis passionnée par l'histoire de la Russie après la guerre. J'ai lu ce roman sans vraiment suivre ce que je lisais, je n'ai pas réussi à m'intéresser à l'intrigue et aux personnages et j'étais constamment distraite, malgré la belle plume de Makine et ses excellentes connaissances historiques et culturelles. Dommage !

[Chookychook · Rating 4 out of 5]

A stark novel about surviving the IIWar in the Soviet Union, being a decorated soldier and then trying to survive very harsh times in any way possible. A powerful & grim story that is written beautifully.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un style magnifique, qui se déploie superbement dès le début du roman dans la description vivante de la guerre.
Une histoire significative de la Russie et de ses idéaux initiaux, bien vite devoyés, et où chacun doit survivre dans la misère ou la compromission.

[Maria Nicoleta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great easy read, I could identify accounts of communist regime influencing the story and characters' motivations.

[Anna_ro · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5/5

[Ivan_Ivke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tužna priča.

[Andreea Maftean · Rating 3 out of 5]

tragic

[Danya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a really grim novel. Beautiful in its own way, but really bleak.

[Louise Cashman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written. Fascinated and appalled in equal measure by the lot of the characters in the story. Very in keeping with other Russian literature I’ve read.

[Katja Labonté · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5 étoiles (2/10 cœurs). Ce livre m'a été recommandé par une lectrice local qui a entendu que j'appréciais les livres sur la Russie. Je n'ai jamais lu de livre écrit par un Russe auparavant, et je ne savais vraiment pas à quoi m'attendre. Si le style n'était pas facile à lire et m'a désorienté, je soupçonne que c'est la faute de la traductrice. Quoi qu'il en soit, l'histoire elle-même m'a donné de grands espoirs au début ; je suis toujours prête pour une douce romance sur la Seconde Guerre mondiale. ;) Cependant, dès que la fille du héros a atteint sa majorité, le livre a plongé : elle est devenue une prostituée-espionne pour le gouvernement. Cela ne m'aurait pas autant dérangé s'il y avait eu même un soupçon de rédemption, ou si le reste de l'histoire avait été encourageant, mais l'histoire est devenue plus triste et plus dure lorsque son père est devenu un alcoolique acharné et qu'elle a essayé de trouver une issue à sa situation. La fin s'annonçait prometteuse, mais finalement, il y a des morts, un avortement, beaucoup de chagrin… et Olia reste dans le même état, sans avenir en vue. C'était tout simplement déprimant. Réaliste, peut-être, mais déprimant.

D'un autre côté, j'ai vraiment beaucoup aimé découvrir la Russie de manière plus intime, des années 1940 à la fin des années 1980 (je crois ?). Je vais certainement réessayer cet auteur.

Contient de nombreuses allusions à l'intimité, bien que discrètes ; alcool, jurons, tabac, etc. Âge recommandé : 18+.

————————

2.5 stars (2/10 hearts). This book was recommended to me by a local reader who heard I enjoyed books about Russia. I've never read a book by a Russian before, and I really didn't know what to expect. While the style wasn't easy to read and confused me, I suspect that's the translator's fault. Anyways, the story itself gave me high hopes at the start—I'm always down for a sweet WWII romance. ;) As soon as the daughter came of age, however, the book took a downturn as she became a governmental prostitute-spy. I wouldn't have minded that so much if it had had even a hint of redemption, or the rest of the story was uplifting, but it just became sadder and harsher as her father became a raging alcoholic and she tried to find a way out of her situation. It was looking up towards the end, but in the last there's deaths, an abortion, lots of grief... and Olia remains in the same condition with no future in sight. It was just depressing. Realistic, perhaps, but depressing.

On the other hand, I really really enjoyed getting to see Russia more intimately, from the 1940s to the late '80s (I think?). I'll be trying this author again for sure.

Content: lots of mentions of intimacy, though pretty veiled; drinking, swearing, smoking, etc. Recommended age: 18+

[Claudia Șerbănescu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un roman captivant care, in doar 191 de pagini, ne conduce prin 45 de ani din viata lui Ivan Demidov, erou al Uniunii Sovietice, decorat pentru fapte de vitejie la Stalingrad, oras pe care l-a vazut doar arzand in departare. Razboiul si ororile lui, foametea ce i-a urmat (in timpul careia Ivan isi pierde primul nascut, Kolka), internarea in lagare de munca a rusilor care au cazut prizonieri in razboi, viata in apartamente la comun, cozile nesfarsite la alimente si imbrancelile care urmau dupa ce "marfa" insuficienta se termina (intr-o astfel de imbrancela sotia lui Ivan, Tatiana, isi pierde viata), munca epuizanta, manipularea constiintei, capcanele KGB si compromisurile zilnice care o transforma pe Olia, fiica lui Ivan, in prostituata - toate acestea, dar si demascarea crimelor si slabiciunilor lui Stalin, precum si politica liberala a lui Mihail Gorbaciov ii spulbera lui Ivan iluzia ca este eroul unei cauze drepte.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

De titel van deze roman die speelt in de Sovjet Unie vanaf de slag bij Stalingrad tot en met de periode Gorbatsjov had naar mijn idee beter Ivan of Ivan en Olga kunnen heten. Ivan, de vader van Olga speelt een minstens zo belangrijke rol. Ivan vecht bij Stalingrad en wordt voor zijn bijzondere moed 'held van de Sovjet Unie, een titel die echt telde in de Sovjet Unie. Vader en dochter worden voortdurend geconfronteerd met en erger nog gebruikt door het inslechte, corrupte systeem. Ik blijf Makine's 'Het Franse testament' zijn beste boek vinden.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story was set in the Soviet Union from WW II to the early 90s. I grew up during the Cold War so I was aware of the difficult life most Soviets had. Yet everything was shadowed by mystery. This novel brought another layer, a reality to the pictures already in my mind. It follows a war hero's life as he tries with pride and dignity to make a good life for himself and his family. A heartbraking tale that I couldn't put down.

[Francois]

Le destin tragique d'un homme qui s'est battu pour son pays et de sa fille qui se bat elle aussi pour son pays, mais d'une toute autre façon..... on y voit l'URSS avant son éclatement et on comprend bien la misère et le désespoir de ce peuple. C'est le tout premier roman d'Andrei Makine et c'est plus que réussi.

[Ulas Ergin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This sad story is in 80's Moscow.Daughter of a 2nd world war veteran,a soviet hero becomes a prostitute in bad old days which leads to his fathers dead from shame.
Not bad,tells how ruined was the soviet period.

[pinkgal · Rating 3 out of 5]

About Russia and yet originally written in French. Novella-length, and gave this gal a glimpse of the Soviet Union that I'd never really considered before. Beautiful and definitely worth a read!

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really special, it really got to me.
I read it in a matter of days :)