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A Novel
by Elena Gorokhova
In post–World War II Russia, a girl must reconcile a tragic past with her hope for the future in this powerful and poignant novel about family secrets, passion and loss, perseverance and ambition.
In a small, provincial town behind the Iron Curtain, Sasha lives in a house full of secrets, one of which is her own dream of becoming an actress. When she leaves for Moscow to audition for drama school, she defies her mother and grandparents and abandons her first love, Andrei.
Before she leaves, Sasha discovers the hidden war journal of her uncle Kolya, an artist still missing in action years after the war has ended. His pages expose the official lies and the forbidden truth of Stalin's brutality. Kolya's revelations and his tragic love story guide Sasha through drama school and cement her determination to live a thousand lives onstage. After graduation, she begins acting in Leningrad, where Andrei, now a Communist Party apparatchik, becomes a censor of her work. As a past secret comes to light, Sasha's ambitions converge with Andrei's duties, and Sasha must decide if her dreams are truly worth the necessary sacrifice and if, as her grandmother likes to say, all will indeed be well.
"Simmering in intensity and details, this historical tale might pique the interests of romance readers and draw historians as the bitterness of war and the impact of young hearts meeting collide." ―Booklist
"…poignant and masterful, beautifully and intricately laced with imagery, intrigue, and emotion…The storyline is riveting, corkscrewing into an array of twists and turns…It's unquestionably a notable and splendid piece of literature." ―Portland Book Review
"Spellbinding, poignant, breathtaking, Elena Gorokhova's first novel explores the meaning of truth, art, and the cost of secrets under the Soviet regime. Sasha's story of pursuing her dreams no matter the cost will stay in your heart long after reading." ―Lara Prescott, New York Times bestselling author of The Secrets We Kept
"Elena Gorokhova's debut novel, A Train to Moscow, is a taut, high-wire masterpiece. Rebellious aspiring actress Sasha comes of age in the pressure-cooker world of the postwar Soviet Union, battling oppressive Party politics, an enigmatic lover turned political censor, and the buried secrets of her own family, which threaten to upset the fragile balance of survival. An unforgettable portrait of artistic struggle, strangled love, and undying hope―I couldn't put it down!" ―Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network
This information about A Train to Moscow was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Elena Gorokhova was born and raised in Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg, Russia. After graduating from Leningrad University, she moved to the United States, carrying one suitcase with twenty kilograms of what used to be her life. Elena is the author of two memoirs: A Mountain of Crumbs and Russian Tattoo. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Daily Beast, New Jersey Monthly, and the Daily Telegraph, as well as on NPR and BBC Radio and in a number of literary magazines. A Train to Moscow is Elena's first novel. She lives and teaches in New Jersey. For more information, visit www.elenagorokhova.com.
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