Like a Drop of Ink in a Downpour: Memories of Soviet Russia

Cherry Orchard Books, 2021. New Book. Paperback. 220 pp.

"Like a Drop of Ink in a Downpour is more ambitious than the average memoir. It's informed by Galina's and her parents' lessons on the value of art and culture and enriched by Alëna's beautifully constructed images and Galina's poetry." - Herb Randall, LA Review of Books

Like a Drop of Ink in a Downpour is a heartfelt mother-and-daughter memoir about three generations of women and their fight to leave Soviet Russia. A mother is a dissident, a refusenik, and a prisoner in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) in the 1970s and '80s. Her daughter, eleven years old, is left without a family. A grandmother is in the USA, waiting for her daughter and granddaughter and not knowing if she'll ever see them again. "I am fine," the three of them write to each other in their letters.

How can you be "fine" when you have to fight to survive? When you must be silent? When the place that you love turns against you?

Told from the dual points of view, this memoir shows the reality of life in the Soviet Union, giving an insider's perspective on the roots of Putin's Russia. It is also a coming-of-age story, heartfelt and funny, a testament to the unbreakable bond between mothers and daughters, and the healing power of art.