Stalin’s Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva

‘Compassionate and compelling, this is not a political story but a quest for love in the heart of darkness’ Simon Sebag Montefiore ‘A biography on an epic scale, with a combination of tragedy and history worthy of a Russian novel’ Independent ‘Superbly well told’ Sunday Times Who was Svetlana Alliluyeva? A little girl, her father’s only daughter, his “little sparrow”; instructed to bury her secrets in her heart by her mother, who shot herself soon after. An observer as her relatives were mercilessly killed and her first love exiled. A woman who tore through relationships with men, joined and abandoned various religions, and became the most famous defector to the United States. The victim of an inescapable truth: “You are Stalin’s daughter. . . . You can’t live your own life. You can’t live any life. You exist only in reference to a name.” The narrative of Svetlana Alliluyeva's life, as told by Rosemary Sullivan, is a top-tier exploration of a woman's struggle to find herself amidst the shadows of her father's legacy. It is a story that showcases the best and worst of human nature, and the indomitable spirit of a woman caught in the crossfire of history. For fans of Anne Frank (Anne Frank’s Diary), Alison Leslie Gold (Found and Lost), Heather Morris (Three Sisters), Karen Bartlett (The Diary That Changed the World), and Joop Van Wijk (The Last Secret of the Secret Annex).