OLGA ADAMOVA-SLIOZBERG (1902-1991) was arrested in Moscow in 1936 as the wife of "an enemy of the people." She was released ten years later, subsequently arrested again, and sent into exile for seven more years before being rehabilitated in 1956. In the 1940s, she began writing her memoir, which became well-known in underground editions and was finally officially published in Russian in its entirety in 2002.

KATHARINE GRATWICK BAKER is a family systems consultant with an MA in Russian history from New York University and a PhD in social work from Catholic University.