Review: STALIN'S DAUGHTER by Rosemary Sullivan

[dickens 100]

This is a truly remarkable book, captivating and engrossing, a story on an epic scale. Svetlana Alliluyeva was the daughter of the biggest tyrant of the 20th century, a man who would stop at nothing to maintain his grip on power.
Svetelana grow up in the Kremlin and she remembers the first six years of her childhood as being very happy, this was shattered when her mother unexpectedly committed suicide. She recalls her mother a few months before telling her to bury her secrets in her heart. Shortly after, Stalin's great terror was in full swing, thousands were rounded up, in 1937 and 1938, 1.2 million were arrested, 200,000 of them shot, the Gulag population had reached a staggering two million, Svetelena's aunts, uncles and cousins and friends who were regular visitors to the kremlin, were not spared, much to her horror.
As Svetlana grow up, she tried to get her father's approval, by writing him letters when he was absent, but the tenderness he showed to her, was like the tenderness a cat would show a mouse!. In 1953 when Stalin lay dying, such was the fear of those close to him, his dentist even dropped his false teeth, his hands shaking uncontrollably!
As Svetlana got older, she could never settle down, going from one relationship to another, marrying five times. In 1967 she decided to defect, leaving her daughter and son behind, eventually being reunited.
This book could be from the pages of a Toltstoy novel, the array of characters, the suspense, and above all, the sacrifice one person made in her search for happiness and love, a gripping and wonderful read, a book you will want to read all over again, definitely 5 out of 5