In a snowbound railway station deep in the Soviet Union, a stranded passenger comes across an old man playing the piano in the dark, silent tears rolling down his cheeks. Once on the train to Moscow he begins to tell his story: a tale of loss, love and survival that movingly illustrates the strength[...]

As a child, Elias Almeida loses both his parents during the Angolan uprising against colonial rule. As an adult and professional revolutionary, he bears witness to mankind at its pitiless worst. Yet he continues to believe in a better world and in the redeeming power of love - even though he cannot [...]

A deeply moving meditation on memory, history, love, and art by the author of "Dreams of My Russian Summers" In "The Life of an Unknown Man," Andrei Makine explores what truly matters in life through the prism of Russia's past and present. Shutov, a disenchanted writer, revisits St. Petersburg after[...]

In the immense virgin pine forests of Siberia, where the snows of winter are vast and endless, sits the little village of Svetlaya. Once, the village had been larger, more prosperous, but time and the pendulum of history had reduced it by the 1970s to no more than a cluster of izbas.But for three yo[...]

Did sex bring down the Iron Curtain? An orphan reflects on the unbreakable bond between love and freedom in the Soviet Union...[...]

Kolmenkymmenen vuoden takaisen rakastetun etsiminen vie venäläisen kirjailijan Pariisista entiseen kotimaahansa. Matkalla Sutov tulee kuitenkin huomaamaan, ettei kyse olekaan vain nostalgiantavoittelusta. Nyky-Venäjän näkymättömiin painetut juuret, unohdettu menneisyys ja todellinen rakkaus t[...]

Lechaim - elämälle! Tämä sekä heprean- että jiddishinkielinen tunnettu sanonta kuvastaa hyvin kirjan aihepiiriä. Kirja kertoo kuvin ja sanoin Suomen juutalaisten elämästä 1800-luvun ensimmäisiltä vuosikymmeniltä aina viime vuosisadan puoliväliin saakka. Arki, oman uskonnon ja kulttuuri[...]