Description
This is the first volume of a three-part saga that chronicles the life of several generations of a family across eight decades. The first part takes the reader through their hardships and privations in Russia shortly before and during World War II. Volume 1 can also be seen as a travelogue into a not-so-distant past of a country which Winston Churchill famously described as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." It provides vivid details of everyday life in the former Soviet Union and can be viewed as a piece of historical fiction, as well as a guide into that country's culture. The subsequent parts describe the adversities they encounter as immigrants in America, their hard-won triumphs, and the unimaginable and devastating tragedy they confronted when in the US.