Two new and very different books tackle the same complicated and largely inscrutable Russian history. One makes the ghosts of Russian past very real, and the other explores the demons haunting a Soviet escapee.
The Haunting of Moscow House
By Olesya Salnikova Gilmore
Three years after the Bolsheviks have murdered the royal family and seized control of the country, the rebels have arrived at the crumbling Goliteva mansion. Once a prosperous family, members of the minor aristocracy, they have been relegated to the bare, freezing attic while soldiers tromp below. What little food they had is taken by the unwelcome guests.
Sisters Lila and Irina go to the market each day, in hopes of securing scraps for their family back home. On a recent trip they happen to meet two young Americans working for the American Relief Association. A sanctioned organization, they help deliver charity to displaced Russians. They offer the sisters jobs at the agency, an offer they tentatively accept.
By day they lend their talents to their modern reality. But at night the literal ghosts of their ancestors come back to life in their old home. This novel imagines a liminal world where the past demands to be part of the present.
Irina calls her fanciful whenever she mentions ghosts. Still, something isn’t right about the house, hasn’t been right since Uncle Pasha was shot dead there three years before, and Grandpere Sergei succumbed to his illness mere days after. …
Lili notices the rest of her family, hovering in the elaborately carved doorway to the East Wing…. They used to be the glitered site of soirees, of intimate conversations punctuated by peels of elegant laughter, of piping hot samovars and platters of mouthwatering pastilla desserts their butler Dmitri would set out proudly. Can she see Uncle Pasha’s tall figure? Papa’s shorter frame, his charming face? No, they are dead. … There is no denying it. She saw a ghost. Really saw it. Him. Uncle Pasha. Still shadow, but more than a flicker. More than just air. ~ Loc. 871
My thanks to Berkley for the review copy. Read via NetGalley.
Publisher: Berkley (September 3, 2024)
Language: English
Hardcover: 384 pages
ISBN-10: 0593547004
The Traitor’s Daughter
by Roxana Spicer
Roxana Spicer’s mother did not have to imagine the results of a Bolshevik takeover. Born under Lenin, Agnes (as she was known to her daughter) was forced to serve in the Red Army, was captured by the Nazis, sent to a prisoner camp, managed to survive and escape, somehow get to Canada, open a roadside restaurant, get married, and have a life.
Her daughter knows very little of this traumatic and exotic life. Now an adult, she is an investigative journalist, and is determined to use her skills to understand her mother’s past. Roxana carefully asks questions of her mother, trying to tease out pieces when she seems to be in a talkative mood. Roxana also made a number visits to Russia to meet and talk to relatives who might have stories to share. She finds many are still reluctant to talk about what happened.
The book stretches across the three-plus decades of a changing and crumbling Soviet facade to opening Iron Curtain. The narrative wanders from present investigations to historical context to childhood memories, reflecting how family stories are often told and remembered, weaving in and out.
The siren call of the Red Army Choir lures me out of my warm bed down to where Mom sits along, her legs tucked under her, in her favorite velvety-green chair that Dad got for her at yet another prairie farm auction. She stirs her vodka and Kahlua on ice with an index finger. I take my place at the far end of a matching forest-green couch, barefoot and quiet in my flannel pajamas. Between the clinking ice cubes and the scratchy Soviet music, Mom cracked open her personal Iron Curtain and let me in. ~Loc. 52.
It’s not an easy read. It is emotional and dark, but it is compelling and well done.
My thanks to Viking for the review copy. Read via NetGalley.
Publisher: Viking (August 27, 2024)
Language: English
Hardcover: 464 pages
ISBN-10: 073524653X