lizzyfrykman 's review for:

Sofia Petrovna by Lydia Chukovskaya

4.0

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this novella is deceptive in that it starts as an optimistic account of a single mother, newly employed as a typist in a publishing house, enthusiastic about her son’s future and the values of the communist party under Stalin’s rule. As citizens become unemployed, arrested and deployed as enemies of the state, however, Sofia Petrovna’s safe and hopeful world becomes one of suspicion, disbelief, and isolation, and ultimately, loss of hope and sanity.

I enjoyed this book as it moved quickly; Chukovskaya’s writing was engaging and the narrative was tight. Reading a fictional account of a terrifying and often neglected moment in history was fascinating.