"We were slaves in Egypt, my mother said, and today we're slaves of Stalin, exiled to hard labor in the Siberian taiga…"

"Isn't it remarkable, my mother said, what people can take pleasure in, what they can believe in, in times of need?"

"Well, well—you escape from hell and here’s the devil in your face."

"If this wasn’t the good life, what was?"

"1943. The height of World War II. A howl of lamentation resounds from one end of Russia to the other. Death knocks ce…"

"No one moves until all the bread has been distributed. Only then do you swallow—not noticing, or at least pretending …"

"In those bitter days, we’d been scattered to the ends of the earth, exiled to Siberia for our own or our parents’ sup…"

"Some worried that the man's recklessness was going to get him into big trouble. They begged him to watch his step, st…"

"Then the concert would begin. Fool or not, Mona Bubbe knew exactly how to behave when she felt accepted rather than p…"

"All in all, it was a magnificent city project, which provided the starving population with cultural activities to con…"