Running from her father's brutal legacy, Joseph Stalin's daughter
defects to the United States during the turbulence of the 1960s. For
fans of We Were the Lucky Ones and A Gentleman in Moscow, this
sweeping historical novel and unexpected love story is inspired by the
remarkable life of Svetlana Alliluyeva.
"The Red Daughter does exactly what good historical fiction should
do: It sends you down the rabbit hole to read and learn more."--The
New York Times Book Review****
In one of the most momentous events of the Cold War, Svetlana
Alliluyeva, the only daughter of the Soviet despot Joseph Stalin,
abruptly abandoned her life in Moscow in 1967, arriving in New York to
throngs of reporters and a nation hungry to hear her story. By her side
is Peter Horvath, a young lawyer sent by the CIA to smuggle Svetlana
into America.
She is a contradictory celebrity: charismatic and headstrong, lonely and
haunted, excited and alienated by her adopted country's radically
different society. Persuading herself that all she yearns for is a
simple American life, she attempts to settle into a suburban existence
in Princeton, New Jersey. But one day an invitation from the widow of
the architect Frank Lloyd Wright arrives, and Svetlana impulsively joins
her cultlike community at Taliesin West. When this dream ends in
disillusionment, Svetlana reaches out to Peter, the one person who
understands how the chains of her past still hold her prisoner. Their
relationship changes and deepens, moving from America to England to the
Soviet Union and back again, unfolding under the eyes of her CIA
minders, and Svetlana's and Peter's private lives are no longer their
own.
Novelist John Burnham Schwartz's father was in fact the young lawyer who
escorted Svetlana Alliluyeva to the United States. Drawing upon private
papers and years of extensive research, Schwartz imaginatively
re-creates the story of an extraordinary, troubled woman's search for a
new life and a place to belong, in the powerful, evocative prose that
has made him an acclaimed author of literary and historical fiction.
Praise for The Red Daughter
"Svetlana Alliluyeva's life was endlessly fascinating, often
heartbreaking, and ultimately heroic. I don't think any writer alive
could have told her story more beautifully than John Burnham
Schwartz."--David Benioff, co-creator of HBO's Game of Thrones and
author of City of Thieves
"The Red Daughter is an intimate, intricate look at the collision of
geopolitics with a private life: surprising and engaging from beginning
to end."--Jennifer Egan
