Bit by bit, the ravages of age are eroding Marina' grip on the everyday. While the elderly Russian woman cannot hold on to fresh memories such as the details of her grown children's lives, the approaching wedding of her grandchild, her distant past is preserved: vivid images that rise unbidden of her youth in war-torn Leningrad. The book moves seamlessly back and forth in time between the Soviet Union and contemporary America.
Bit by bit, the ravages of age are eroding Marina' grip on the everyday. While the elderly Russian woman cannot hold on to fresh memories such as the details of her grown children's lives, the approaching wedding of her grandchild, her distant past is preserved: vivid images that rise unbidden of her youth in war-torn Leningrad. The book moves seamlessly back and forth in time between the Soviet Union and contemporary America.