Like a Drop of Ink in a Downpour

Like a Drop of Ink in a Downpour: in Soviet Russia is a memoir that traces the lives of a girl, Al na, her mother and her grandmother, and their quest to preserve the legacy of Al na's late grandfather, a prominent artist who depicted the Holocaust. For years his canvases are locked away in their apartment with no hope of being exhibited because of art policies of the state. When the family decides to emigrate the unexpected happens: Al na's father refuses to let her go, her grandmother leaves alone with the paintings, and her mother is accused of a fabricated crime and incarcerated. She serves her sentence at the notorious Kresti prison, Sablino labor camp, and as an exile with compulsory labor in Gorky. The wonder of childhood and motherhood persists amid their battles, and three generations of women call on their resilience to find their way back to one another. Narrated in the voices of the girl and her mother, their shifting perspectives creates a vivid view of women and girls in Leningrad of the '70s and '80s.