A Train to Moscow, Elena Gorokhova
A Train to Moscow, Elena Gorokhova
List: $42.99 | Sale: $30.10
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A Train to Moscow

Author: Elena Gorokhova

Narrator: Elizabeth Knowelden

Unabridged: 10 hr 3 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/01/2022

Synopsis

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.

About Elena Gorokhova

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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Canadian Jen on April 14, 2022

I debated reading this. Thinking I would do my own self imposed sanction on Russia. But not all Russians are Putin supporters. Sasha is a young girl who dreams. Dreams themselves being a defiant act. She hopes of becoming an actress in post war Russia in Moscow. A dangerous proposition if you live u......more

Goodreads review by Kate on March 03, 2022

Read this one for a cover quote, and absolutely devoured it: a taut, high-wire masterpiece that is just the read for today's troubled headlines. Rebellious aspiring actress Sasha comes of age in the pressure-cooker world of the postwar Soviet Union, battling oppressive Party politics, an enigmatic l......more

Goodreads review by Christi on February 03, 2022

"Our system, if you think of it, is pure genius: executioners and victims are the same people. The engine of death has been in motion for decades, and no one is guilty because everyone is guilty." ~Andrei Rating: 4.5 stars It's difficult to put into words how much I appreciate stories such as these.......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader on February 21, 2022

Elena Gorokhova has written two popular memoirs, A Mountain of Crumbs and Russian Tattoo, about her life in Soviet Russia. I’ve acquired both books due to the outstanding reviews, but sadly I haven’t picked them up yet. A Train to Moscow is a work historical fiction set in Russia just after World War......more

Goodreads review by The History Mom on January 31, 2022

I loved this book about the Soviet Union in the years after World War II. Told through the eyes of Sasha, a precocious girl from a provincial town who transforms into a strong-willed woman, I learned so much about Soviet history, culture, and politics from this tumultuous time behind the Iron Curtai......more

Quotes

“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

“Elena Gorokhova, who grew up in the 1960s Soviet Union, has given us a heartfelt autobiographical novel…This novel will move you to feel the pain and frustration of one who needs to live in truth and have the freedom of expression.” —Historical Novels Review, Editors’ Choice

“…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

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