A heart-rending record of extraordinary human endurance Kirkus Reviews This powerful narrative by a distinguished historian will take its place not just in history but in literature - Robert Massie [A] remarkable tale of love and devotion during the worst years of the USSR ... [Figes's] fine narrative pacing enhances this moving, memorable story Publishers Weekly Immensely touching ... [a] heartening gem of a book - Anna Reid Literary Review

'The great storyteller of modern Russian historians' Financial Times Orlando Figes was granted exclusive access to the thousands of letters between Lev and Sveta that form the foundation of Just Send Me Word, and he was able to interview the couple in person, then in their nineties. These real-time and largely uncensored letters form the largest cache of Gulag letters ever found. Figes is Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of Peasant Russia, Civil War, A People's Tragedy, Natasha's Dance, The Whisperers and Crimea. He lives in Cambridge and London. His books have been translated into over twenty languages.