"The morning it happened - the end of my lovely world - I did not water the lilac bush outside my father's study" (pg.1.)

"My mother was sitting in the dining room, at the empty dining table, resting her chin in her hand" (pg. 10.)

"She became impatient and finally very stern: the albums were not to go. Looking over her shoulder first, she whispered that someone was bound to question us about the people in these albums" (pg. 17.)

"Siberia! Siberia was the end of the world, a point of no return. Siberia was for criminals and political enemies, where the punishment was unbelievably cruel, and where people died like flies" (pg. 42.)

"The smell was ravishing. 'Come on, Grandmother." I nudged her. "Let's begin to trade" (pg. 68.)

"Out of the confusion of the day, three giants emerged to be slain: Svetlana, Raisa Nikitovna, and Krylov in Cyrillic letters. In...