This fast-paced thriller tells the sto­ry of Sashen­ka, the daugh­ter of wealthy sec­u­lar Jews in St. Peters­burg. Reject­ing her par­ents’ bour­geois ways and her grand­par­ents’ reli­gion, Sashen­ka seeks intrigue, adven­ture, and per­haps truth in the nascent Com­mu­nist Par­ty just before the Russ­ian Rev­o­lu­tion. But, as Mon­te­fiore illus­trates with equal parts sym­pa­thy and cer­tain­ty, Sashenka’s tri­umphs and sor­rows dur­ing Stalin’s Great Ter­ror cul­mi­nate in a choice that rever­ber­ates for over a gen­er­a­tion. With­out a doubt, Montefiore’s empa­thet­ic and skilled por­tray­al of this wealthy Jew­ish girl turned Bol­she­vik activist brings to life the intri­cate and ter­ri­fy­ing his­to­ry of the Sovi­et Union in the 20th cen­tu­ry.