A brilliant, shining debut, a literary mystery about two Russian brothers and the bond that holds them together when one of them, Ilya, gets a scholarship to study in America, and the other, Vladimir, goes to jail for a violent crime, where the prosecution is murky at best. Ilya is torn between the lure of the good life in America, and loyalty and uncovered truths for Vladimir’s wrongful conviction.
Leonid and Nadya are treated as cosmonaut heroes in the Soviet Union in 1964, two of the first humans in space. But it was a state-sponsored deception; their twins were sent to space and never returned and now the earth-bound twins are paraded around as evidence of socialist victory. In this beautiful, soul-searching novel, Leonid grapples with the supposed loss of his brother, guilt at remaining behind, and also questions of faith where he is constantly reminded of the heavens in a country that has outlawed God. This novel is a tender look at the space program, and the family and home that is created in the wake and destruction of the one that is left behind.
History lovers will rejoice at Winston Groom’s newest effort at understanding the personalities behind World War II, The Allies (National Geographic, $30). Focusing on the three leaders of the Allied nations, Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin, Groom weaves together an intricate and detailed analysis of the war from multiple perspectives. This is not just a war history, however—this is a triple biography of these larger-than-life men. From the early Boer War correspondent days of Churchill, to the political rise and scandalous love affairs of Franklin and Eleanor, to the communist in-fighting of Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky, we can see the vastly different formative experiences that ultimately led to this shaky alliance, with many blind eyes turned, to face down the common threat. Groom’s broad war analysis will leave readers with a better appreciation of the dominant leadership personalities that shaped an era.
