Just Send Me Word

Product Description

From Orlando Figes international bestselling author of A Peoples Tragedy" " Just Send Me Word" is the moving true story of two young Russians whose love survived Stalins Gulag. Lev & Svetlana kept apart for fourteen years by the Second World War & the Gulag stayed true to each other & exchanged thousands of secret letters as Lev battled to survive in Stalins camps. Using this remarkable cache of smuggled correspondence Orlando Figes tells the tale of two incredible people who swept along in the very worst of times kept their devotion alive. Orlando Figes was granted exclusive access to the thousands of letters between Lev & Sveta that form the foundation of Just Send Me Word & he was able to interview the couple in person then in their nineties. These real-time & largely uncensored letters form the largest cache of Gulag letters ever found. Reviews: " One is overcome with admiration for the kindness bravery & generosity of people in terrible peril... It is impossible to read without shedding tears". (Simon Sebag Montefiore " Financial Times"). " This powerful narrative by a distinguished historian will take its place not just in history but in literature". (Robert Massie). " Electrifying passionate devoted despairing exhilarating...a tale of hope resilience grit & love". (" The Times"). " Moving...a remarkable discovery". (Max Hastings " Sunday Times"). " The gulag story lacks individuals for us to sympathise with: a Primo Levi an Anne Frank or even an Oskar Schindler. " Just Send Me Word" may well be the book to change that". (Oliver Bullough " Independent"). " Immensely touching...a heartening gem of a book". (Anna Reid " Literary Review"). " The remarkable true story of a love affair between two Soviet citizens...as much a literary challenge as a historical one: the book can be read as a non-fiction novel". (" Telegraph"). " Remarkable... Figes selecting & then interpreting this mass of letters makes them tell two kinds of story. The first is a uniquely detailed narrative of the gulag of the callous slatternly universe which consumed millions of lives... The second is about two people determined not to lose each other". (Neal Ascherson " Guardian"). "A quiet moving & memorable account of life in a totalitarian state.. . The book often reads like a novel...captivating". (" Evening Standard"). " Orlando Figes has wrought something beautiful from dark times". (Ian Thomson " Observer"). "A heart-rending record of extraordinary human endurance". (" Kirkus Reviews"). "A remarkable tale of love & devotion during the worst years of the USSR... Figes fine narrative pacing enhances this moving memorable story". (" Publishers Weekly"). About the author: Orlando Figes is Professor of History at Birkbeck College University of London. He is the author of " Peasant Russia" " Civil War" "A Peoples Tragedy" " Natashas Dance" " The Whisperers" & " Crimea". He lives in Cambridge & London. His books have been translated into over twenty languages."