This book is the story of Zuleika, young wife of an independent farmer. In 1930, as part of the process of dekulakisation when more affluent peasants, characterised as class enemies, were sent to labour camps, their home is ransacked and her husband murdered. Zuleikha herself is sent off on an apparently endless train journey with hundreds of others who die, escape, or like her survive against the odds when finally they arrive in a previously unpopulated part of Siberia.

This is the story of that survival. It's also the story of the commanding officer Ignatov. Whereas Zuleikha achieves some kind of independence and fulfilment in her new life, for Ignatov, the trajectory is a downward one. And there's a third significant person in this story too. But to mention him would be a spoiler.

This story, with a young uneducated Tatar woman at its heart, does much to bring to life the gulags and their unhappy part in Soviet history. It's written by a woman, Guzel Yakhina, who was inspired by her own grandmother's story, and beautifully translated by another, Lisa Hayden. A worthwhile and satisfying read.