Synopses & Reviews
Born in 1926, Svetlana Alliluyeva spent her youth inside the Kremlin as her father's power soared along with that of the Soviet Union. Eighty-five years later, she died alone and penniless in rural Wisconsin as Lana Peters. Revealed here for the first time, the many lives of Joseph Stalin's daughter form a riveting portrait of a woman who fled halfway around the world to escape her birthright.
Svetlana was protected from the mass starvation and murder that her father inflicted upon Soviet citizens, but she was not immune to tragedy. She lost almost everyone she loved, including her mother, who committed suicide, and her father's merciless purges claimed the lives of aunts and uncles, and her lover, who was exiled to Siberia.
After her father's death, Svetlana discovered the extent of his cruelty. Balking at the control the Kremlin still exerted over her life, she shocked the world by defecting to the United States at the height of the Cold War—leaving behind two children. However, in America Svetlana found only more heartbreak. For a time, Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin community, overseen by his controversial third wife, Olgivanna, formed a second family for her; Svetlana married Wesley Peters, a member of the inner circle, and they had a child. But Olgivanna manipulated their friendship for financial gain, and the marriage disintegrated. No matter how much distance she put between her past and her present, she could not undo the emotional and psychological damage her father had wrought.
With access to FBI, CIA, and Russian State Archives, and with the close cooperation of Svetlana's daughter, Rosemary Sullivan has created a masterly biography that is epic in scope yet narrated with remarkable intimacy. Stalin's Daughter deftly places Svetlana in a broader context of time and place, without losing sight of her powerfully human story. In the process, this multifaceted narrative reveals the heart of a brutal world and offers an unprecedented look at its mastermind.
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Praise for Villa Air-Bel:“A moving and richly detailed account.” Boston Globe
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“Villa Air-Bel is a most welcome book, a triumph of the human spirit” Philadelphia Inquirer
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“With tremendous suspense and emotional pull, Sullivan recounts the little-known story of Varian Fry, the intrepid young American who sheltered [dozens of artists and intellectuals] helping them and hundreds more escape from Vichy France.” Vogue
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“Sullivan brilliantly interweaves personal histories with terrifying tales about flight over mountains to Spain or Switzerland and by sea to Casablanca or Martinique….At the centre is Varian Fry, the quiet American.” Sunday Times (London)
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“Rosemary Sullivans Villa Air-Bel is a marvellous addition to the surging literature on occupied France. Sullivan writes not as a historian-she has little new material-but as a dramatist.Her scene-by-scene evocation of life at the house reads like an updated Chekhov comedy laced with horror.” Financial Times
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“This is a magnificent, complex narrative of courage, folly, and complacency...a beautifully narrated book.” Telegraph
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“Gripping...Sullivan captures the tense atmosphere of France as the Germans invaded and the fear and anxiety of the intellectuals, some held in detention camps and some who ignored the danger until it was nearly too late.” Booklist
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“A moving tale of great sacrifice in tumultuous times.” Publishers Weekly
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“[Villa Air-Bel] bring[s] to life those committed Americans and Europeans who risked all to help others...A complex tale showing how hope and courage flourish, even in the toxic soil of totalitarianism.” Kirkus Reviews
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“A biography of haunting fascination…. The author has illuminated another challenging, mercurial subject.… The author manages suspense and intrigue at every turn.” < em=""> Kirkus Reviews < m=""> (starred review)
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“If it werent for the pages of scrupulous footnotes and the many interviews Rosemary Sullivan pursued you would be convinced that this was fiction. But its a true story, thrillingly told in this fast-paced, fascinating biography.” Cokie Roberts, < em=""> New York Times < m=""> bestselling author of < em=""> Founding Mothers < m=""> , < em=""> Ladies of Liberty < m=""> , and < em=""> Capital Dames < m="">
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“Compassionate and compelling, Sullivan sensitively delivers the intimate, tragic life story of a woman who was Stalins only daughter in all its strangeness…. This is not a political story but a quest for love in the heart of darkness.” Simon Sebag Montefiore, bestselling author of < em=""> Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar < m="">
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“Insightful and thoroughly researched.… This excellent and engrossing biography is suitable for anyone interested in Russian history or in Svetlanas struggle to make a difference in a world that never could separate her from her.” < em=""> Library Journal < m="">
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“Stalins only daughter, lived an almost impossible life at the edges of 20th-century history…. Sullivan masterfully employs interviews, Alliluyevas own letters, and the contents of CIA, KGB, and Soviet archives to stitch together a coherent narrative of her fractured life.” < em=""> Publishers Weekly < m=""> (starred review)
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“Sullivan draws on previously secret documents and interviews with Svetlanas American daughter, her friends, and the CIA “handler” who escorted her to the U.S. for riveting accounts of her complicated life.” < em=""> Booklist < m=""> (starred review)
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“Looking backward, as the Canadian historian Rosemary Sullivan does clearly and evenhandedly in Stalins Daughter, it appears astounding that the girl who could have had the worlds worst daddy issues managed to grow up at all.... This measured, informative biography...grows ever more fascinating.” Janet Maslin, < em=""> New York Times < m=""> Book Review
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“Riveting…. Throughout, Sullivan treats the wealth of facts she has uncovered with a sensitive, compassionate touch…. Sullivan tells a nuanced story that, while invariably sympathetic, nonetheless allows readers the freedom of their own interpretations.” Olga Grushin, < em=""> New York Times Book Review < m="">
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“Stalins Daughter is a poignant look at the struggles of a dictators offspring.” < em=""> Christian Science Monitor < m="">
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“[A] magisterial biography.” < em=""> O < m=""> Magazine
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“Sullivan does an admirable job of researching, organizing and contextualizing the events of Alliluyevas bewildering life.… It is an excellent book, and deserves a wide readership.” < em=""> Dallas Morning News < m="">
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““With a gentle literary touch, [Sullivan] lets readers follow Alliluyeva as she wanders the U.S. and U.K….” < em=""> Los Angeles Magazine < m="">
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“Compelling…. Sullivan takes us confidently through an eventful life….Its to Ms. Sullivans credit that, at least in these pages, Alliluyeva herself is proved…a fascinating person not simply because of her name.” < em=""> Wall Street Journal < m="">
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“A principal virtue of…Sullivans empathetic Stalins Daughter is the vivid sense it offers of Alliluyeva…. Sullivan does a nice job of conveying her subjects point of view without accepting it as the last word.” < em=""> Los Angeles Times < m="">
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“Although other authors have provided more systematic analysis of the substance and mechanics of Stalins terror, Rosemary Sullivan…provides one of the more emotionally draining illustrations of Stalins evil.… As Sullivan makes clear, Stalins daughter led a full and dramatically tumultuous life.” < em=""> Philadelphia Inquirer < m="">
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“…[an] arresting biography.” < em=""> More < m=""> Magazine
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“[An] extraordinary book…. Rosemary Sullivan possesses the sensitivity necessary to unlock a beguiling and complex character worthy of admiration, not ridicule…. Superb.” < em=""> Washington Post < m="">
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“A detailed, sensitive and…sympathetic account of Alliluyevas turbulent and tragic life.” < em=""> San Francisco Chronicle < m="">
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“A compelling biography…Sullivan tells [Alliluyevas] story with sympathy and verve.” < em=""> Minneapolis Star-Tribune < m="">
Synopsis
Winner of the Plutarch Award for Best Biography
PEN Literary Award Finalist
National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
New York Times Notable Book
Washington Post Notable Book
Boston Globe Best Book of the Year
The award-winning author of Villa Air-Bel returns with a painstakingly researched, revelatory biography of Svetlana Stalin, a woman fated to live her life in the shadow of one of history's most monstrous dictators--her father, Josef Stalin.
Born in the early years of the Soviet Union, Svetlana Stalin spent her youth inside the walls of the Kremlin. Communist Party privilege protected her from the mass starvation and purges that haunted Russia, but she did not escape tragedy--the loss of everyone she loved, including her mother, two brothers, aunts and uncles, and a lover twice her age, deliberately exiled to Siberia by her father.
As she gradually learned about the extent of her father's brutality after his death, Svetlana could no longer keep quiet and in 1967 shocked the world by defecting to the United States--leaving her two children behind. But although she was never a part of her father's regime, she could not escape his legacy. Her life in America was fractured; she moved frequently, married disastrously, shunned other Russian exiles, and ultimately died in poverty in Wisconsin.
With access to KGB, CIA, and Soviet government archives, as well as the close cooperation of Svetlana's daughter, Rosemary Sullivan pieces together Svetlana's incredible life in a masterful account of unprecedented intimacy. Epic in scope, it's a revolutionary biography of a woman doomed to be a political prisoner of her father's name. Sullivan explores a complicated character in her broader context without ever losing sight of her powerfully human story, in the process opening a closed, brutal world that continues to fascinate us.
Illustrated with photographs.
Synopsis
The award-winning author of
Villa Air-Bel returns with a painstakingly researched, revelatory biography of Svetlana Stalin, a woman fated to live her life in the shadow of one of historys most monstrous dictators—her father, Josef Stalin.
Born in the early years of the Soviet Union, Svetlana Stalin spent her youth inside the walls of the Kremlin. Communist Party privilege protected her from the mass starvation and purges that haunted Russia, but she did not escape tragedy—the loss of everyone she loved, including her mother, two brothers, aunts and uncles, and a lover twice her age, deliberately exiled to Siberia by her father.
As she gradually learned about the extent of her fathers brutality after his death, Svetlana could no longer keep quiet and in 1967 shocked the world by defecting to the United States—leaving her two children behind. But although she was never a part of her fathers regime, she could not escape his legacy. Her life in America was fractured; she moved frequently, married disastrously, shunned other Russian exiles, and ultimately died in poverty in Wisconsin.
With access to KGB, CIA, and Soviet government archives, as well as the close cooperation of Svetlanas daughter, Rosemary Sullivan pieces together Svetlanas incredible life in a masterful account of unprecedented intimacy. Epic in scope, its a revolutionary biography of a woman doomed to be a political prisoner of her fathers name. Sullivan explores a complicated character in her broader context without ever losing sight of her powerfully human story, in the process opening a closed, brutal world that continues to fascinate us.
Illustrated with photographs.
About the Author
Rosemary Sullivan has written poetry, short fiction, biography, literary criticism, reviews, and articles. Her recent books include the critically acclaimed Villa Air-Bel and Labyrinth of Desire. She is a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto and has been awarded Guggenheim, Camargo, and Trudeau Fellowships. She is a recipient of the Lorne Pierce Medal, awarded by the Royal Society of Canada for her contribution to literature and culture, and is an Officer of the Order of Canada.