A review by thewellreadrunner
Stalin's Children: Three Generations of Love, War and Survival by Owen Matthews

4.0

I won this from Goodreads a few months ago, and just finally got around to reading it. This book was a pleasant surprise for me. I don't read a ton of nonfiction, but when I do, I love when it exposes me to people or places that I know very little about. Russia is certainly one of those places, and I am particularly uninformed when it comes to Russian history. It took me a little while to figure out what direction this book was taking (is it about the author? his parents? Russia itself?)...eventually I realized that the themes of all these separate stories ran together very coherently. I was especially intrigued by Mila and Mervyn's story...a happy ending, yes, but not entirely...much like many of the political changes in Mila's home country. Overall it was both moving and informative. I learned a lot!