Synopses & Reviews
When Jennifer Anne Moses moved from a comfortable life in East Coast Jewish society to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she volunteered at an AIDS hospice and rediscovered a profound commitment to her Jewish faith.
Outstanding Book, selected by the American Association of School Librarians
Best Books for Regional Special Interests, selected by the Public Library Association
Review
"Sharp, fast-paced...a fascinating glimpse inside the world of newsgathering and of contemporary Russia."—Publishers Weekly
Review
"Troubled lovers cling together in a sea of vodka and drugs in this journalist's memoir of her time in Russia….Cohen's language remains as journalistic at the end as it was at the beginning, but when she's describing the Dostoyevskian decline of her romance, her tale becomes simply riveting."—The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Business meets sex meets pleasure meets danger meets their mutual love of the journalistic hunt. It's a heady cocktail.... a rather successful job of turning heartbreak into a quick, juicy read. All in all, she offers an interesting, if dark, account of the strange and dangerous places intemperate passions can lead us."—San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"Her story is riveting. The love story is wistful, funny, and wise, woven into a moment in history, also seen with a candid and revealing eye. This is an original-a fresh voice, a great read, a memorable coming of age story."—Carol Gilligan, author of In a Different Voice and The Birth of Pleasure
Review
"Jennifer Cohen writes fearlessly about love, betrayal, and self-discovery in the fresh setting of an expat in post-communist Russia. Anyone who has fallen for the wrong person, or sought adventure, will be captivated by this tale of a young woman learning to become herself amid the swirls and intrigues of Moscow and St. Petersburg."—Michele Mitchell, author of The Latest Bombshell
Review
"Cohen's Russia is soaked in cigarette smoke, vodka, and sex for hire. She reveals the underside of Russian life, both in its day-to-day decay and the more sensational world of crime and corruption."—Tzivia Gover, author of Mindful Moments for Stressful Days
Review
“[A] fascinatingly moving memoir...told against a backdrop of incredible political upheaval and peppered with a cast of characters as extraordinary as those in the court of Versailles. As Cohen finds out more about Russia, she begins to find out more about herself and Kevin, and its not very pretty.... At the end of this remarkable book, shes ready—and able—to go home. Sex, power, and politics almost always share the same bed. And whether coexisting in a glittering 17th-century palace or the gritty modern streets of Moscow, they make for reading pleasures as addictive as chocolate.”—Caroline Leavitt, The Boston Globe
Review
"Beautifully weaving both her personal crises and her family history into a larger discussion of the challenges facing contemporary Judaism, Moses . . . creates a moving portrait of a thoroughly modern woman struggling to make sense of, and to live up to, the faith of her forebears."—Lorraine Glennon, Ladies Home Journal
Review
"Moses has created a moving spiritual memoir, one in which the writing shimmers with emotion but is honest, powerful, and carefully crafted. Readers seeking a dip into the pool of lively, probing autobiography will find this slim volume a satisfying adventure."—Jewish Book World
Review
"Moses's prose is lyrical and fresh. . . . After finishing this book, readers may wish they could sit down over a bagel and grits and visit with her."—Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
In January 1998, while the rest of her newsroom is chasing the Monica Lewinsky story, television journalist Jennifer Cohen gets a lead that takes her out of covering that scandal and deep into another one--the trafficking of sex slaves from the former Soviet Union into the United States. Knowing that the college crush she never quite forgot works for a St. Petersburg newspaper, she hires him to help out. Much to their surprise, they fall madly in love over thousands of miles of telephone line. Within weeks, Cohen finds herself engaged to marry a man she barely knows and on a plane to Russia. No one could have predicted the total collapse that followed--of the Russian economy, of her fianc 's sobriety, of Cohen's mental health and physical safety, and of her professional aspirations.
Cohen's vivid descriptions of her life in anything-goes Moscow--bribing government officials, meeting pimps in back alleys for interviews, being told by her boss to perpetuate American clich s about Russia in her pieces--are a colorful counterpart to the despair and loneliness that replaces the love between Cohen and her betrothed. Their battles with prescription drugs, alcoholic rages, and physical abuse are recounted with perspective and wit, offering a smart, poignant, and unvarnished look at a complicated relationship in a complicated land.
About the Author
Jennifer Anne Moses is a writer now living in Montclair, New Jersey. Her essays, reporting, reviews, and travel and opinion pieces have appeared frequently in the New York Times, Washington Post, Atlanta Journal Constitution, and Salon. She is the author of Visiting Hours, Food and Whine, Just Give Me One Piece of Gum, and Songs You Can Sing to Your Dog.
Table of Contents
1 With God in Baton Rouge2 The Dancing Widow3 Dr. God4 Hebrew on the Bayou5 Holy Ghost6 The Memory Books7 Glimpses8 Afterward9 Kaddish10 Coming of Age in Baton Rouge11 Where They Landed12 God’s Arms Are Very Long13 SignsPostscript: After the Storm