Book description
A Mountain of Crumbs is the moving story of a young Soviet
girl's discovery of the hidden truths of adulthood and her country's
profound political deception.
Elena, born with a desire to explore the world beyond her borders,
finds her passion in the complexity of the English language - but in
the Soviet Union of the 1960s, such a passion verges on the
subversive. Elena's home is no longer the majestic Russia of
literature or the tsars. Instead, it is a nation humiliated by its
first faltering steps after World War II, putting up appearances for
the sake of its regime and fighting to retain its pride.
In this deeply affecting memoir, Elena re-creates the world that
both oppressed and inspired her. She recounts stories passed down to
her about the horrors of the Bolshevik Revolution and probes the daily
deprivations and small joys of her family's bunkerlike existence.
Through Elena's captivating voice, we learn not only the personal
story of Russia in the second half of the twentieth century, but also
the story of one rebellious citizen whose love of a foreign language
finally transports her to a new world.
'This moving memoir made me cry'
The New York Times
Elena Gorokhova grew up in St Petersburg, Russia, although for most
of her life it was known as Leningrad. At the age of twenty-four she
married an American and came to the United States with one
twenty-kilogram suitcase to start a new life. Now Elena is a writer and
lives in New Jersey.
