This is the story of Florence Fein, a young Jewish woman born and raised in Brooklyn who leaves the comforts of her middle class home to begin, what she thinks, will be an enlightening adventure in Russia.  This saga begins in  1932 when Florence is a college student and ends in 2008.  The novel moves back and forth in time and focuses, for the most part, on Florence and her son, Julian.  Each chapter heading delineates the location and the year, so it is not difficult to follow the plot lines.

For those readers who enjoy historical fiction and are a bit weary of reading World War II novels, I recommend The Patriots.  It’s informative, historically accurate, and Sana Krasikov is a very fine writer.