Adrienne Celt, "Invitation to a Bonfire" (Bloomsbury, 2018)

New Books in Literature · Jul 5, 2019 · 40m

Zoya Andropova—soon to be known in her adopted country as Zoë Andropov—didn’t ask to be rescued from her Soviet orphanage, even after the arrest of her father, a strong supporter of the very regime that has now taken his life. But rescued she is, by well-meaning Americans, who soon dump her at a wealthy boarding school where she struggles to retain far more than her name. She takes refuge in literature, in particular by the émigré writer Lev (Leo) Orlov, whose science fiction transports her to more satisfying times and places. So perhaps it is no surprise that when Orlov shows up to teach at…