Eliza and Sofya are schoolmates who are now adults with their own families. Eliza, an American, lives in New York and Sofya, a Russian aristocrat, lives in St Petersburg with her family. The Russian Revolution and World War II is looming in 1914 when Eliza and Sofya last see each other. Varinka is a peasant girl trapped in a bizarre arrangement with her mother, father and her father's young apprentice who is newly returned from prison and involved with the Russian rebels.

These three women live through tragedy and loss over the next six years all the while trying to reach their final goals - Eliza to find Sofya and reconnect with her daughter, Sofya to find what is left of her family and Varinka to find freedom. It wasn't always pretty and some terrible things had to be done along the way but they make it the other side.

I loved this book. Much like Lilac Girls, I sympathized with all of the characters even when one was clearly not doing the right thing. The story started off slow for me, especially Eliza's story, but picked up midway and I couldn't put the book down after that.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy.