. . . If the people killed or starved to death by the Soviets were laid out end to end they would stretch half way to the moon.This compelling novel of life in the Soviet Union tells an upfront and personal story of a family who lived through the birth, life and death of perhaps the worst monster state ever to exist on Earth.We shudder through the social upheavals of the 1920s, the terror of the 30s and the horror of WWII. We catch the mood of enthusiasm at first for Khrushchev and the bitter disappointment that came soon after as his economic policies failed. We discover that the smiling Khrushchev turned out to be one of the worst persecutors of the Church in history. Then we take an emotional roller coaster ride through the years of Brezhnev, Andropov and the other old men. At last we meet Mikhail Gorbachev whose new thinking rapidly becomes old thinking. At last the Soviet Union dies - or does it?The Kuladze family story is also a remarkable and tender love story in a world where life and death could hinge on intonation, nuance or thinking unapproved thoughts. It is a world in which Christening a baby must be done in total secrecy, yet millions do it anyway. The reader will never be the same after reading this absorbing and thoughtful book.