The Night We Disappeared

War comes suddenly. It forces people to flee, destroys familiar ways of life, and makes them ask themselves again and again: “Who am I?” and “Where is my home?” The characters of Nikolay V. Kononov’s novel do not find simple answers—before us are displaced people, stateless persons, emigrants, and double agents who lived and operated between the First and Second World Wars. The stories of an anarchist who managed to outwit the German intelligence service, of a young teacher who, during the occupation, searches for God and for herself, and of a scientist burdened with evil who fled the Bolsheviks to go abroad are retold by their descendants—modern heroes who have unexpectedly found themselves in similar circumstances. Kononov offers a way to see the madness of the last century through the eyes of those who, despite everything, tried to stand their ground, not to lose human dignity, and to defend their convictions.