A multi-layered novel rich in unique markers of the time and precise characteristics, Svetlana Shenbrunn’s “Roses and Chrysanthemums” is devoted to the first postwar years. Its heroes are residents of Moscow communal apartments—people with different viewpoints, habits, and destinies—who are united by shared troubles and hopes. This is the story of a generation that spent childhood during evacuation and returned to Moscow with already grown-up souls—that generation that later produced the “Sixtiers.”