Spanning nearly a century, from 1930s Siberia to contemporary Brighton Beach, a page turning, epic family saga centering on three generations of women in one Russian Jewish family—each striving to break free of fate and history, each yearning for love and personal fulfillment—and how the consequences of their choices ripple through time.
Odessa, 1931. Marrying the handsome, wealthy Edward … handsome, wealthy Edward Gordon, Daria—born Dvora Kaganovitch—has fulfilled her mother’s dreams. But a woman’s plans are no match for the crushing power of Stalin’s repressive Soviet state. To survive, Daria is forced to rely on the kindness of a man who takes pride in his own coarseness.
Odessa, 1970. Brilliant young Natasha Crystal is determined to study mathematics. But the Soviets do not allow Jewish students—even those as brilliant as Natasha—to attend an institute as prestigious as Odessa University. With her hopes for the future dashed, Natasha must find a new purpose—one that leads her into the path of a dangerous young man.
Brighton Beach, 2019. Zoe Venakovsky, known to her family as Zoya, has worked hard to leave the suffocating streets and small minds of Brighton Beach behind her—only to find that what she’s tried to outrun might just hold her true happiness.
Moving from a Siberian gulag to the underground world of Soviet refuseniks to oceanside Brooklyn, The Nesting Dolls is a heartbreaking yet ultimately redemptive story of circumstance, choice, and consequence—and three dynamic unforgettable women, all who will face hardships that force them to compromise their dreams as they fight to fulfill their destinies.
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This was a very interesting read following three generations of women in a family. Daria who survived the war, and a camp. Natasha who had better opportunities and not the war hanging over her head, but was not allowed to advance her studies or school as she wanted because she was Jewish. Her career and life has been decided for her, so she gets involved with a group that takes her down a dangerous path. Zoe is in current day US and still struggling with acceptance and fitting in having Jewish heritage, meanwhile trying to understand her families values, fears and past hardships.
Daria marries a wealthy man, and life seems good during the 1930’s, that is until war breaks out and Stalin’s repressive Soviet state. Anyone will turn in anyone to gain an upper hand and to get any suspicion off of themselves. Even a son, turns in his own mother. The family gets snitched on, and they soon find themselves being sent off to a camp. Daria does everything she can to keep her daughter and husband alive, although each day gets harder and harder.
In the end, she has to make a heart-wrenching decision that she hopes her family will understand. This decision gets them out of the camp and back to putting their lives back together and she will meet them as soon as she can get herself out as well.
Natasha is a very smart woman and wants to get into university to proceed into a career in mathematics, but Jews still are being limited to what they can and cannot do. Whether they like it or want to believe it, their careers really are dictated by others and there is nothing they can do about it. Feeling frustrated and anger at the system and how easily decision for her are made, she gets tangled up with a group trying to break the system and prove that prejudices are still happening.
Natasha, like her mother also has to make a decision that she does not really agree with, but is the best decision in the end for her, the baby and her family. This involves them migrated to the US, but through a means of lies that only she and Boris know. Although her parents are hesitant to leave everything behind, they get approval and come to the US. The country of opportunity.
Zoe, current day has always struggled with fitting in. She is Jewish, knows her family came from Russia and often there are various languages spoken and agreements or disagreements on decisions within her life, how to live and what to do or not do in the US. Her parents and grandparents still harbor fears that were long instilled in them from Russia.
She finally meets someone that understands her background of being different from others, and starts to understand her families past, hardships and why they have done what they have done, and made decisions they did. Zoe is also finding herself, and where she belongs.
I really enjoyed this novel, and it was eye opening to read about Russia during the war, and through the 1970’s. I did not know how much was still controlled and dictated by others, and it still seemed as if not much had changed since the war.