April 24, 2023
Zuravleff’s meticulous latest (after Man Alive!) follows a family of Russian immigrants as they acclimate to life in early 1900s Pennsylvania. Yelena Federoff, the first of her family to be born in the U.S., is proud of her status but is secretly jealous of her elder two sisters who were left behind in Russia when Yelena’s father immigrated to find work in the dangerous coal mines. Yelena helps to raise her younger siblings and attends a strict Russian Orthodox church, while her generous mother feeds whomever she can and houses old friends from Russia until they can get on their feet. There are moments of joy—a Thanksgiving feast, the arrival of Yelena’s two older sisters—but a disaster at the mine brings tragedy to the community. As Yelena comes of age and looks on as her family and neighbors stumble through a series of weddings and births (all with copious amounts of vodka), she begins to question whether this is the life for her. Zuravleff richly describes the hardscrabble setting, capturing the horrific working conditions, her characters’ will to provide for their families, and how all of it is stifling to Yelena. Fans of 20th-century immigrant stories ought to take a look.