Chapter 8 Summary

The adults continue to discuss Charlotte and her life choices in the kitchen, only now that the narrator is fourteen-years-old, he is allowed to stay and listen as long as he remains silent. The adults don't understand why Charlotte would want to spend her life in Siberia when she could have stayed in France, but the narrator understands. He remembers hearing stories about Charlotte escaping through Russia with her young children, months after her husband, Fyodor, disappeared. Fyodor was arrested on Christmas, while he was dressed up as Santa Claus. He was released a few weeks later, but asked to undergo reintegration "into the party" in Moscow. Although the retraining should have only taken a few days, Fyodor did not return.

Months after Fyodor's disappearance, bombs begin to drop in Russia. Charlotte grabs her children and runs toward the train station. Ironically, the...