[Defiant]

I have a question, and hope that those who are interested in this thread can help me out. The first chapter of a novel about the Soviet Union was posted in the WSJ online, and I think it was here that I found it. The book opens with a heart-wrenching story about a boy in the Ukraine whose cat got out, and who has to find it before it is found and eaten. It is the only thing good he has left. The danger is not just that the cat will be eaten, but that if the boy gets caught in the woods by people crazed with hunger, they might never come home, either.

It was a very powerful first chapter. I think the book was about the boy after he grows up and goes to work for the Soviet state in the 50s. I was going to order the book but never did. That was a couple years ago. I was looking for that book on Amazon, and could not find it. Does anyone remember that book's title or the author? Hopefully, someone on this thread remembers it.

[Sender]

The novel you are looking for is “Child 44” by Tom Rob Smith. It is exceptional for a first book, and if you never knew of the horrors imposed by Stalin before, you will have a good hint of them after you read it.