The Patriots

A sweeping multigenerational novel about idealism, betrayal, and family secrets set in the U.S. and Russia, from one of Granta´s Best of Young American Novelists When the Great Depression hits, Florence Fein leaves Brooklyn College for a job in Moscow--and the promise of love and independence. But once in Russia, she quickly becomes entangled in a country she can´t escape. Many years later, Florence´s son, Julian, immigrates back to the United States, though his work in the oil industry takes him on frequent visits to Moscow. When he learns that Florence´s KGB file has been opened, he arranges a business trip to uncover the truth about his mother, and to convince his son, Lenny--trying to make his fortune in Putin´s cutthroat Russia--to return home. What Julian discovers is both chilling and heartbreaking: an untold story of a generation of Americans abandoned by their country, and the secret history of two rival nations colluding under the cover of enmity. The Patriots is a riveting evocation of the Cold War years, told with brilliant insight and extraordinary skill. Alternating between Florence´s and Julian´s perspectives, it is at once a mother-son story and a tale of two countries bound in a dialectic dance; a love story and a spy story; both a grand, old-fashioned epic and a contemporary novel of ideas. Through the history of one family moving back and forth between continents over three generations, The Patriots is a poignant tale of the power of love, the rewards and risks of friendship, and the secrets parents and children keep from one another.