Alexander "Shurik" Bayless

Shurik is the story's main character. The story begins as he wakes up on the day of his eightieth birthday, and begins to think back on his life as a prisoner in a Soviet labor camp. For the past twenty years he has been living as a free man in the Russian countryside with Frosya and Trofim, relatives of a deceased fellow prisoner. He is apparently happy and content living with them. They love him very much and have welcomed him into their home, as if he were family. He is also a well-loved and respected member of the community. A mysterious letter has recently arrived, however, which has set him to thinking about his hard life. Someone is due to arrive in the village later that afternoon; and this event may change the course of his life. The story alternates between the day...