The author is a renowned historian and on the evidence of this novel of fiction too. The story of Sashenka, born into wealth and Bolshevik by conviction, spans decades and charters the Soviet Union's descent into mindless, all-embracing tyranny which consumed millions and was presided over by the malignant, devious, murderous Joseph Stalin. The legacy of this wonderful novel is the present day Russia, a hugely unequal society ruled by an ex KGB apparatchik and with freedom a distant mirage.
(David Graham - bwl 85 Summer 2017 ) |
