The Reasons I Won't Be Coming

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

The author gratefully acknowledges permission to quote from:

T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” from Collected Poems, 1909-1962, Faber and Faber Ltd.; Osip Mandelstam, “I Was Only in a Childish Way Connected to the Established Order,” from Selected Poems, translated by James Greene, Penguin Books (UK); “I’ve Many Years to Live,” from The Moscow Notebooks, translated by Richard and Elizabeth McKane, Bloodaxe Books (UK); and “Poem on Stalin,” reproduced by permission of The Harvill Press. Vitaly Shentalinsky, The KGB’s Literary Archive, first published by The Harvill Press in 1995. Copyright © Editions Robert Laffont, SA, Paris. English translation Copyright © John Crowfoot 1995.