The novel “Escape to Russia” continues D. Granin’s favorite theme: the problem of a moral choice by a scientist—especially if his field is nuclear physics. A strong adventurous-detective beginning brings the narrative close to a spy novel. The prototypes for the two heroes were real people connected with the Rosenbergs, American citizens accused of spying for Russia…
In 1956 the world was stunned by sensational news: two talented American scientists and radio engineers, major specialists in the field of electronic and military industry—Joel Barr and Alfred Sarant—pursued by the CIA fled to the Soviet Union. For all the years of their life in the USSR, their real biography was strictly classified, and few people knew that they had been working for Soviet intelligence since the time of the Second World War, passing to the Russians super-secret data about American weapons…
The fate of these people drew the attention of Daniil Granin (in his version they appear under the names Joe Berti and Andrea Kostas). Besides that, he knew them personally…