The first third of this book was written while I was in Vienna as a fellow at the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen, and I thank the Institute for its generosity. The second third was written while I was a guest at my father’s house on Cape Cod, and I thank Alexander Gessen for his hospitality. The final third I wrote at home in Moscow, while my baby daughter was asleep, so I thank Yael Gessen for sleeping through the night between the ages of two and four months—and express the hope that this habit may one day be reestablished. My brother, Keith Gessen, is always my first reader and best critic. This book owes a great deal to the efforts of my agent, Elyse Cheney, Dial Press editor Susan Kamil, and Beth Rashbaum, the closest of readers and the most patient of editors. But most of all, I am grateful to my grandmothers, Ruzya Solodovnik and Ester Gessen, who, incredibly, told me their stories and let me not only write but actually publish a book about them.