“She immediately knows something is wrong The door to Marik’s house is ajar, and there is a black car blocking the street just a few meters away. Not really a car - there aren’t many cars in Ivanovo...Who is this wagon waiting for?”
I’m Betty Martin with "Martin’s Must Reads" and those are some of the opening lines in Elena Gorokhova’s novel A Train to Moscow. Gorokhova is a first generation Russian immigrant who after publishing two memoirs has now turned to the fiction genre to tell the story of life in Russia after World War II.
Her story is based on members and experiences of her own family. The story begins when Sasha, the narrator, is seven and witnesses her friend Marik’s father arrested for some minor slight, never to be seen again.
When they are young, Sasha, Marik and Andrei are inseparable until tragedy ends Marik’s life. Sasha lives with her mother and grandparents. Upon graduation from high school, and against her family’s wishes, Sasha takes a train to Moscow to pursue her dream to be an actress. She leaves her beloved Andrei behind. When she leaves she takes with her a copy of a diary written by her uncle while fighting in WWII, an uncle who never returned after the war and is presumed dead.
The story follows her career and the yearning she still has for Andrei. When you read this book you can’t help but experience, as the press release states, “the harsh realities and complexities of growing up in post-WWII Russia.”
If you’re looking for a novel about everyday life in post war Russia, then you must read A Train to Moscow by Elena Gorokhova.