Stalinist Russia 1948: Aleksandr, a major in the MGB, is apparently happy to work in a precarious world where your life could be destroyed or lost for voicing the 'wrong' opinions. Looking back in 1972, as Cold war certainties disappear, Aleksandr contemplates the human cost both to himself and to those he dealt with. This book begins with a slightly off-putting chronology and historical note, and initially moves slowly. However, when it gradually changes from the political to the personal it becomes a sad and moving tale of real people caught in the machinations of a ruthless one-party state.
