Farewell

This book focuses on a little known aspect of World War II. Its characters begin in Moscow and on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. The female character, Valentina, goes through England and ends up as a spy in France for the Allies. The male character, Sasha, serves in the Russian Army, is captured by the Germans. Stalin declared Russian prisoners as traitors and sent no food for his prisoners. Literally starving to death, many of them saved their lives by joining what was called the Russian Liberation Army. The idea was that the Russians would fight for the Germans, and then Germans would help them liberate Russia from Stalin. Sasha also ends up in France fighting for the Germans. He is captured by the Americans. At the end of the war, Stalin insisted all Russians be repatriated back to Russia. Russians who had served in the West knew this would mean either execution or hard labor camp. Many resisted and atrocities were committed to the shame of US and English soldiers to force the Russians to repatriate. Both Valentina and Sasha manage to defect to the United States, but they are unwelcome here as it is the McCarthy era, and all Russians are suspected of being Communist spies. Valentina can live openly because she speaks English fluently without a Russian accent. Sasha is a house prisoner because he can only speak Russian. The book comes to a head when they are discovered.