The Shoemaker and his Daughter

by Conor O'Clery

'O'Clery takes us into the hidden heart of Soviet Russia... An arresting and evocative story.' Keggie Carew, author of Dadland

'A tour de force ... Love, politics, murder, wars, and the fracturing of ties, personal and ethnic. O'Clery is a gifted writer.' Luke Harding, bestselling author of Collusion

The Soviet Union, 1962. Gifted shoemaker Stanislav Suvorov is imprisoned for five years. His crime? Selling his car for a profit. On his release, social shame drives him and his family into voluntary exile in Siberia, 5,000 kilometres from home. In a climate that's unfriendly both geographically and politically, it's their chance to start again. The Shoemaker and His Daughter is an epic story spanning the Second World War to the fall of the Soviet Union, taking in eighty years of Soviet and Russian history, from Stalin to Putin. Following the footsteps of a remarkable family Conor O'Clery knows well - he is married to the shoemaker's daughter - it's both a compelling insight into life in a secretive world at a siesmic moment in time and a powerful tale of ordinary lives shaped by extraordinary times.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Russia, Biography Memoir, Memoir, Biography, Family

384 pages, Paperback

Published March 14, 2019

Reviews

[Dem · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

I really enjoy family histories and especially those from The Soviet Union. The Shoemaker and his daughter was an entertaining and interesting read. An story spanning the Second World War to the fall of the Soviet Union and life under the current leader

This is the story of of Stanislav Suvorov and his family, when Stanislav is arrested and imprisoned for the crime of selling his car for a profit, he endures a sentence of five years in prison and on his release he and his family relocate to Siberia 5000 Kilometres from home to begin a new life away from the shame and humiliation of his time in Prision.

A simple story of family life in Russia written by Conor O’Cleary who was an Irish Times correspondent during the last four years of communism and having married into a Russian - Armenian family, he tells the story of his wife’s family.

I really enjoyed the story as it is interesting and well written and we get a glimpse into an ordinary family and their lives as they live under the various Russian leaders and the turbulent decades that saw many changes in The Soviet Union.

This is a little insight to The Soviet Union and its changing history told through the lives of an ordinary family and what life was like for them and how they coped with all the changes through the years. I really enjoyed the story as it well written and honest and a book that I really enjoyed from start to finish.

The book contains photos, Maps of The Soviet Union and A family tree.

[Pili · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lo compré en mi librería favorita en Dublín, la portada era hermosa y la información en la contraportada prometía una historia original... ¿qué más podía pedir? Inicié su lectura convencida que nada más podría hacerlo especial, pero bastó leer las 3 primeras líneas (literalmente) para descubrir que tenía un potencial tesoro entre mis manos...
La historia de la Unión Soviética es parte del temario académico en las Escuelas y Universidades de México, pero lo percibimos de un modo lejano (al menos esa fue mi experiencia). Conocía las "fechas y personajes claves" pero esa era la frontera de mi "curiosidad".
A través de tres generaciones de familias pude descubrir, apreciar y conocer la diversidad de realidades que un temario académico jamás es capaz de abarcar.

[Liss VC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historia real de una familia armenio-rusa. Muy interesante desde el punto de vista histórico, muy bien narrado y muy ameno. Me admira la voluntad de ésta familia y sus ansias de prosperar y darle una vida lo más confortable posible a sus hijos, cuidando siempre de cumplir con lo establecido en el sistema. Al leer la sinopsis no pude evitar comenzarlo inmediatamente. Muy familiares me resultan muchos de los hechos aquí narrados, me evocan sentimientos encontrados, ya que mi infancia estuvo bastante influenciada por la antigua URSS.

[Richard Newton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The true story of a family surviving and thriving in Russia from about 1900 to 2015. Covering the very different periods of Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Gorbachov, Yeltsin and Putin - in microcosm it shows the story of Russia and the Soviet Union through the experiences of one family. Anyone who is interested in the history of that country through this period may well find the story fascinating. It shows the complexity of history - the successes and tragedies of a family through this whole tumultuous period, and how simple judgements that one political system is better than another are always more complex when see through the eyes of personal experience.

But it's a flawed book, for me mainly because what could be an engrossing history is spoiled by a flat writing style. The writing managed to make exciting, interesting and at times shocking, historical events rather dull. More strings of facts than a colourful story. I read the book end to end, and enjoyed the last parts, but at times I was seriously tempted to give it up.

Two stars for the writing - four for the story. Averaged out at 3.

[Anna Newton · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very disappointing book. Potentially a great story of the extended Armenian family living through the turmoils of the Russian revolution and the years after util the perestroika. A real story with many dramatic events but, and this is a big but, written in the most boring, flat style. Well, no style at all. It is more or less factual rather than emotional, and therefore the characters come across as rather dull.
The author may be a very good political correspondent but the flat journalistic writing does not do the justice to the turbulent, disturbing yet often happy history of this family. Such a shame as the title is very good...

[Aine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though it’s called “The Shoemaker and His Daughter” this is really the story of Marietta Suvorov - the wife and mother. Born in 1939 to an Armenian family in the autonomous Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in the Republic of Azerbaijan, Marietta’s parents were both members of the local Communist Party. Her father, Nerses, died in the Second World War. In 1950 her mother, Farandzem, moves the family to Grozny (Chechnya) for a better life. There, Marietta learns Russian and Farandzem takes up work as a conductress on the Grozny-Moscow train. Aged 18, she marries Stanislav Suvorov. They have two daughters, Zhanna and Larissa. As well as their day jobs, Stanislav and Marietta work in the irregular economy as a shoemaker and seamstress, respectively. In 1961, Stanislav is arrested for speculation, having sold his car on the black market for a profit. He is sentenced to seven years in prison, of which he serves almost five while Marietta raises their family. Afterwards, they decide to start afresh in Siberia, where they prosper for several decades until the collapse of the Soviet Union destroys their savings, ends their sense of security, and ignites ethnic conflict in their homeland.

O’Clery’s style makes the book an easy, understandable read but it has drawbacks; we don’t see anything of the characters’ internal lives, except for O’Clery’s occasional assumptions that they mustn’t have really believed in what they were doing and just did it for an easy life. When Zhanna moves to the US we see briefly that she is shocked by the extremes of wealth and poverty and frustrated by the “we won” rhetoric but because it comes so late and there has been no build up it comes across as quaint rather than being an insight into how 70 years of a country existing creates a new outlook on what society should value. Other than that there are some references to pride in being Soviet citizens rather than separate ethnicities and the importance of education (there’s a related but not delved into point about the role of women, Farandzem having been able to leave her abusive husband and insisting on a strong education for her girls, Marietta again getting a strong education for her daughters and herself, and each generation of the family’s women having important civic roles). But that doesn’t build up to explaining a world view.

The book just becomes a list of things that happens, without either internal thoughts of the characters nor the external context which created their circumstances. Everything that happens to them is tied to a decision in Moscow. That’s the only context. When we read about standard of living there’s only the comparison to the West but not to the majority of the world or to where Russia started from. Rather than leaving the reader to compare the Siberia of the 1960s to the Dublin or New York of today, The Shoemaker And His Daughter would be stronger if in it mentioned that the family and their friends knew of the depression in the 1930s, the colonial wars in the ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s, and the discrimination faced by woman and minorities (and whether or not they believed it).

[Nikita Agarwal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. It is easy to read and the content is engaging and interesting

Almost hundred years of history is narrated through the experience of three generations of a family. I found myself constantly researching places, terms and events.

In some parts, the endless names of family members, acquaintances and foreign places get confusing. But overall, events are explained well in cultural and historic context

The Suvorov family’s story is sad, inspiring and incredibly interesting. I really enjoyed reading about their remarkable journey.

[Maire Buckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting history of former USSR, told through the intimacy of his wife’s family.
I found myself fascinated and googling places and people. Although I had lived through much of the later years, this was a new perspective. It’s hard to credit that so much has changed in forty years. And yet, old wounds are still so open and raw !!
I’d love to visit this vast region.

[Victor Valore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extraordinary book! Well written, filled with facts, a personal story and absolutely a joy to read. Russia and the former USSR has my keen interest these years and The Shoemaker gave me another great piece of that puzzle, by showing what happened at the crossroad of the official USSR and the ordinary people living in USSR.

[Aoife · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very strong 3.5 stars

[Frankie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Totally fine! I do not need to read it ever again.

[Sajith Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The socialist empire in the Soviet Union threatened capitalism in the post-World War II period when even the US apprehended that the communists might take over most of the globe. But the concern was a bit premature. Margaret Thatcher once famously said, "the problem with socialism is that eventually, you run out of other people's money". It did exactly that in the Soviet Union. Decades of mismanagement and ridiculous economic logic shattered the economy whose coup de grace came in the form of the oil price slump in the early 1980s. Three general secretaries died in quick succession in 3 years and a reformer named Mikhail Gorbachev took the chair. His structural changes got out of hand and ended up in the collapse and dismemberment of the Soviet Union in 1991. It took hardly 6 years to dismantle the communist regimes in eastern Europe. This book follows the life story of a master shoe-designer-cum-maker who weathered the storms of living in a strictly controlled society and still flourished. His daughter studied hard and earned high academic credentials. Incidentally, she is the author's wife and he tells the story of his in-laws in this book which is actually a mirror to the scourge of communism in the Soviet Union and proves that the communist system was founded on lies and monstrous crimes. Conor O'Clery is an Irish journalist and writer. He worked for the Irish Times for 30 years and represented them in many countries including the Soviet Union where he met his wife. He has authored many books.

Stanislav Suvorov was a shoemaker who led a prosperous life in Grozny, Chechnya by making bespoke shoes which were highly prized. He was sent to prison for a charge that was a crime only in a communist polity. The prison term had a devastating effect on the family’s prestige. It migrated to Krasnoyarsk, Siberia to start a new life where too Stanislav led a good life. His wife Marietta hailed from Nagorno-Karabakh which was beset with ethnic tensions between Armenians — to which our family belonged — and neighbouring Azeris. His daughter Zhanna studied diligently and conformed to the norms of a socialist society. She joined the communist party’s youth wing and eventually joined the party itself. She represented a district in the legislative body of Krasnoyarsk. But she still harboured resentment about how her father suffered at the hands of communist officialdom. She married a friend, but gradually drifted apart from him. During her absence from home for her PhD program at Moscow, her husband gets killed in a drunken brawl over an illicit relationship. She meets O’Clery in Moscow as a Russian tutor and the relationship grew. O’Clery was a divorcee with five children but they marry and he adopts her daughter. This occurred during the critical time of USSR’s disintegration. The author and Zhanna relocated to other countries following his transfers to various places and they used to visit her parents occasionally. On the rich tapestry of the family’s story, the author carefully crafts the history of the Soviet Union and how the system affected the life of the family in unexpected ways.

Readers wonder at how inefficient the Soviet system was managed according to the politico-economic theories of communism. With private enterprise curtailed, shops relied on deliveries from central warehouses that were far distant. Provisions were snapped up as soon as they appeared, so it was advantageous to be at the head of the queue or be friendly enough with the manager to buy goods at the back door. A party membership usually helped in such situations. Usually, articles were rare and queues very long that people joined a queue and only later asked what it was for! Scarcity moulded the Soviet people in grotesque ways. The Ukrainian peasant soldiers who invaded Romania which was capitalist in 1944 are reported to have wept when they saw the pretty houses, the fattened cattle and the well-stocked barns. They wept for a way of life and a prosperity that could’ve been theirs if not for communism. The party crushed religion, but even with its suppression, it was rare for an Armenian child who has not been secretly christened, even in communist households. A form of consumer apartheid prevailed. Special shops called Beryozka which stocked food unavailable elsewhere which was open only to holders of hard foreign currency. There were shops reserved for party functionaries that were not accessible to common people. Strict obedience to authority was drilled into the people. People witnessing a state-sponsored unjust act did so in silence, avoiding eye contact with other people. In Stalin’s Russia, no one spoke to strangers about matters that did not concern them.

Communism shunned any kind of enterprise — however small — coming from the people who were meant only to toil hard as per the commands of authority figures. It was essential that they should not think for themselves, or more practicably, not have time to think. As a result, private enterprise was not only discouraged, but penalized too. After seven decades of this madness, party bosses wondered why their economy was in shambles. Even the modest shoe and boot business of Stanislav (the author's father-in-law) was forced to run low-key because it thwarted the state's aspiration to own and control all the means of production. He restricted services to only the customers he knew. He was detained one day for selling his used car at a higher rate than the approved one which amounted to speculation that was a punishable offence. Article 154 of the criminal code made punishable any act such as 'buying up and reselling of goods or any other articles for the purpose of making a profit'. Punishments were very harsh. Stanislav was arrested and sentenced to seven years in jail. His new car was confiscated and re-assigned to a party functionary. The judiciary was subject to directives from the Kremlin on penal policy. Judges served 5-year terms and their continued careers depended on the party's assessment of their conformity.

Not content with nipping private initiative in the bud, communism sought to wipe out individuality as well, encouraging conformity to a goal set from on high. All kinds of creative literature wilted as a result. Central planning did not allow for individual architectural expression whose spin off was the almost identical cities and towns across the country. All residential blocks looked the same. Each city had its statue of Lenin and streets named after Lenin and Marx. The shops were all the same, carrying numbers rather than names. Dissimulation was the norm when portraying 'achievements' of the Soviet system to outsiders and quite ironically, to its own citizens as well. In speeches cataloguing the milestones, the word 'and' was never put before the last item so as to give the impression that the list can go on and on. Legislature was a total mockery of that democratic function. The role of deputies in legislative forums was to endorse the decisions of the hierarchy. As a rule, discussion was minimal and endorsements unanimous. Every time a vote was required, a voice called out, "those for" and all hands went up; 'Those against', no reaction; 'Those abstaining', no reaction; 'Motion passed' and the exercise ended. Foreign travel was a state-controlled privilege and only certain categories of citizens with proven party loyalty were allowed. The state didn't even allow people to talk to international contacts and telephone calls could be made only through an operator. Direct international dialling was introduced in Moscow for the Olympics in 1980 for the convenience of foreign athletes, but was discontinued immediately afterwards. The academia was constantly reminded of their place in the socialist system. Even in the 1980s, students and faculty of academic institutions were forced to help with the harvesting on state farms. They would toil on distant stretches of muddy fields with no facilities and primitive sleeping arrangements.

The interval in which communism crumbled was miraculously short as to be unbelievable. The fleeting nature of its collapse was telling on the flimsy foundations and the rot to the core. Brezhnev managed a consumer spending boom due to the high price of oil which brought in hard currency. Gorbachev introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (reconstruction). He granted Soviet writers unprecedented freedom because he wanted the Intelligentsia on his side to discomfit the hard-line conservatives who were obstructing his reforms. Reassessment of historical figures, past events and revelations became ever more frank. This openness was genuinely believed to be capable of reforming the party and the existing system. Even in 1989, the party believed that perestroika was designed to fully use the potential of socialism and that only with a renewed and revitalized party in the vanguard can the Soviet Union move to a renewal of socialism and a bright future. Unfortunately for the party, Gorbachev was unlucky. It was his misfortune that oil prices had fallen but consumer expectation couldn't be lowered. He allowed constituent republics to get in touch with foreign partners and thereby unknowingly pushed them on the road to independence. With Khrushchev's thaw and Brezhnev's consumer society, people became less afraid to speak openly than the previous generation which had a memory of Stalin's arbitrary and cruel punishments for even a hint of dissidence.

O'Clery makes an analysis of the Soviet system's transformation to a market economy for which it suffered enormously. As Solshenitsyn said, 'whatever the communists told about their socialist system was false, but unfortunately, whatever they told about the capitalist system turned out to be true'. Hyper-inflation which followed the fall of the Soviet Union wiped out entire life's savings, turning millions of Russians into paupers. It was a humiliation for the generation that defeated Hitler to learn that war widows were getting Red Cross parcels from Germany. Russia entered the modern consumer era in the 1990s, with everything available in the stores, but it became a dangerous place with increased crime, financial chaos and no respite for the poor while a few powerful Russians syphoned off national wealth and the former captains of communism transformed themselves into oligarchs of capitalism. The book also provides an overview of the Russian society. Family ties were intense and close, which almost feels like India, in the importance it accorded to the extended family. Fathers were typically not appreciative of their daughters' boyfriends and we read about Zhanna's father breaking the finger bone of one when he gives the poor lad a 'firm' handshake after he caught them kissing! Parents offered financial help to their children to buy homes and donated furniture. Whatever the Soviet society lacked in some material comforts, they compensated for it in intangible things. Zhanna was accustomed to the discipline and respect shown to teachers in Soviet schools and she was taken aback to find her American pupils taking chewing gum in class and putting their feet up on the desks.

The book shares chilling details of how Islamic fundamentalism took hold in Chechnya once the central hold weakened that eventually made the non-Muslims flee from the province. It's true that Russia established itself there by resorting to brutal policies and stubborn suppression, but it does not justify the Chechen attempt to establish an exclusive religious state. When the author and wife visited Grozny in 1991, the Russians were living in fear that 'if incited, hitherto peaceful Muslim neighbours might turn against them overnight' (p. 279). Street graffiti threatening Russians came up quickly which warned them with dire messages such as 'RUSSIANS DON'T LEAVE — WE WANT SLAVES' and 'DON'T BUY THE APARTMENT FROM MISHA (meaning any Russian) — HE WILL BE GONE SOON ANYWAY'. This looks exactly similar to what the Kashmiri Pandits underwent in Kashmir at around the same time. The script was the same and universal with slight, local variations. Non-Russians were not exempt as seen in another slogan: 'RUSSIANS BACK TO RYZAN, ARMENIANS TO YEREVAN'. This exposed the true colour of the Chechen pogrom that it was not against Russians alone, but against all Christians. The book is structured in an engaging way where two stories unfold at the same time — that of the Suvorov family and that of Soviet Union itself. The writing style produces an intimacy to the characters among the readers. Family photographs are interspersed throughout the narrative. The story is presented in a charming present tense that appear contemporaneous to readers and attracts tremendous interest.

The book is highly recommended.

[Mireya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mi mejor lectura de lo que va de año.

[Colette Colfer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, written in a straightforward prose style, gives an insight into the lives of one family in the USSR from the time of Stalin up to the break up of the Soviet Union in 1992 and onwards into the aftermath of the breakdown of communism and the upheavals that occur with the introduction of capitalism. The book centres on the shoemaker Stanislav Sukorov who learns his shoemaker trade in his step-father’s workshop and goes on to become a master shoemaker. It gives insight into the entrepreneurial spirit, the complications of implementing communism, and of then trying to replace it with capitalism, the back gardens rich with home grown fruit and veg, the dacha, factory life, challenges of speaking openly, implications of profiteering and prison, and upheaval after upheaval, hard work, Siberia. There’s so much in this book. Three of my aunts and I read it for our little book club and it received the highest score of any book we’ve read in the last year - score tally is 9.1 out of 10. We all loved it.

[Ignacio Cristóbal Fernández · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mi tipo de libro. Seguimos a una familia armenio-rusa por Nagorno-Karabaj, Chechenia, Krasnoyarsk en Siberia, el comunismo soviético, la perestroika, el shock del capitalismo y la Rusia de Putin. Además un autor experto, ameno, con ritmo constante, dibujitos, fotos, microhistoria y megahistoria.

[Oscar Lozano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Narra la historia de Stalisnav Suvorov y Marietta Gukasián y su familia en la Unión de Repúblicas Socialistas Soviéticas postStalin donde comenzaron a suceder algunos cambios respecto a las políticas de terror stalinistas. Además es también un recorrido por el conflicto armenio – azerí debido a la región de Nogorno Karabaj, situado en territorio azerí pero con mayoría de población armenia. Así como la guerra latente entre Rusia y la región o república de Chechenia donde Stalin perpetró un terrible genocidio. Y la forma en que instauró, u obligó, al uso del ruso en lugares con lengua y cultura propia y ancestral para que se sintieran miembros de un mismo país, intentando que perdieran su identidad como nación.
Con ellos, y aunque el Gobierno soviético quiso dar más libertad económica al pueblo, descubrimos uno de los peores crímenes en el mundo comunista ruso, la especulación, aún cuando la población viviera en condiciones precarias. También conocemos el modo de vida y costumbres en diferentes regiones de la Unión Soviética, aunque leyendo entre líneas ya se intuía la caldera que era esa unificación basada en el miedo, y que a la caída de la URSS provocó su rápido desmembramiento y numerosas guerras internas entre distintas etnias por el territorio que anteriormente les pertenecía.
En este viaje por la Rusia soviética desde Stalin a Gorbachov vamos sumergiéndonos en las costumbres de los diferentes pueblos que formaban esta unión de países y culturas, y que por mucho que el sistema comunista quisiera evitar las perversiones capitalistas, las personas siempre buscan los recovecos para conseguir un estado del bienestar mayor que el que poseen. Aunque a pesar de lo malo de ambos sistemas económicos, se podría conseguir el ideal perfecto para la población y los potentados cogiendo lo mejor de ambos sistemas.
En cuanto a nuestra familia biografiada, vamos observando cómo les cae el peso del sistema, mas consiguen salir adelante y volver a estar en una buena posición dentro de la Sociedad. De esta manera se critica el gran aparato burocrático y la corrupción imperante en según qué asuntos.
Con la llegada de Gorbachov y la perestroika, que trajo consigo más aperturismo y menos represión, comienza el principio del fin de la URSS y del miedo de sus habitantes. Además de traer consigo una mayor criminalidad. Así se llega a un clima de inestabilidad en algunas repúblicas y regiones de la Federación rusa con guerras como la de Chechenia, entre los chechenos contra los rusos, y en Nagorno Karabaj, una región en disputa entre Armenia y Azerbaiyán.
En cuanto a la familia de Zhanna, la hija de Stanislav, son protagonistas involuntarios de estos acontecimientos mientras ella se muda a Estados Unidos y trabaja con una organización del Fondo Monetario Internacional para la transición al capitalismo más razonable, aunque no tuvo todo el éxito que buscaba porque pasaron de un comunismo salvaje a un capitalismo exacerbado.
En líneas generales nos lleva por todas las décadas que duró la Unión Soviética y su experimento comunista, enseñando sus pros y sus contras.
Personalmente me parece una lectura amena e interesante.

[Maria Laufmaschinemeister · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book as a part of my end of the year cleanup. I dropped this book previously halfway through and this time, I have resolved myself to finish reading it.

This is a non-fiction narration of the life of multiple generations of an Armenian family in the Soviet Union. The family history is full of twists and turns and one is left impressed by the resilience of Marietta, Stanislav, their parents, children and relatives.

However, I struggled a lot reading this book. It reads more like a private effort to document family history rather than a book for an external reader. There are so many details, abbreviations and transliterated Russian words that I, being a native Russian speaker, was exhausted from going through the pages. The author’s love and respect for the family is clear from the pages, but his respect became somewhat suffocating for me as a reader. I did learn quite a bit about the life in the Soviet Union that I didn’t know before, especially from the second half of the book, so I am glad I muddled through.

My bigger issue with the book is, however, in what the author chooses to praise and prioritise. He chooses to not interrogate some of the potentially sensitive aspects of the family history - and I understand the implications of going too deep into these in a non-fiction work. What irritated me, however, is the title. From the history of the Gukasyan/Suvorov family, it is clear that the family has been built, maintained and supported by strong women. The men of the family died, eloped with mistresses, stupidly got into jail. Women made things work, made extremely hard decisions, did their best to raise the children and support the family. Yet the book is named after a man. I am wondering why was it so hard for the author to realise the role of women?

[Émilie Weidl · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

This book traces the family of the author's wife, Zhanna Suvorova, throughout the course of the Soviet Union from one conflict ridden region--Nagarno-Karabakh, to another--Chechnya, and then on to Siberia following her father's imprisonment for selling his used car for profit. Like many families living in this region of the world at this point in time, conflict and turmoil appear to follow them around, until they finally find a home in Siberia, a place where even the Kremlin cannot touch them.

A group from the Siberian School of Economists even sends a proposal for a free market ot the Kremlin, a daring act in the 1970s. What can Moscow do? Send them to Siberia?

The fall of the USSR and the return of conflict to Nagarno-Karabakh, where their extended family remains, spell more trouble for the Suvorov family. They find themselves losing loved ones and savings over and over. Throughout all of it, Zhanna's father, Stanislav Suvorov manages to keep singing God willing, God willing, that we're drinking not for the last time!

This book managed to pack in 80 years of history spread throughout a large portion of the world, without confusing the reader. I thoroughly enjoyed every part of this book and would highly recommend it. O'Clery did an incredible job painting a portrait of the contrasts present throughout the course of the Soviet Union. This book was touching in some parts and hilariously terrifying at others.

The locals contemplate how a weapon capable of levellin a small city may have occasionally been in the charge of soldiers high on marijuana.

[David Margetts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent family biography of life and times in the USSR spanning three generations through Stalin - Putin. The family are largely hard working communist party members who 'use the system' and their initiative to carve out a reasonable existence. This is not Solzhenitsyn, and it is not the normal offering of extreme repression, but simply a reasonably normal family 'getting on with life' as best as possible. It demonstrates the obvious unfairness, corruption, inefficiencies and propaganda in Soviet times, varying in depth and severity depending on the leader in situ' and his favoured approach, but it also shows that families could live, be happy, gain varying a degree of self fulfilment, and be 'secure' too. There is no doubt that democracy and capitalism have delivered much greater wealth, health, well being, education, justice and resources than communism ever has around the world, however it is also fair to say that many Soviets were better off under such communism, than they are under the current 'fascism' experienced under Putin, where capitalism is unregulated, there is no democracy, justice is corrupt, freedom of speech is restrained and massive inequality flourishes.
A good book, authentic, well written and well balanced.

[Isabel O’Keeffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed The Shoemaker and his Daughter, which gives an insight into almost one hundred years of history through the story of one family. It paints a picture of life in the Soviet Union and the consequences of its collapse in 1991. Conor O’Clery is an Irish journalist who meets Zhanna, the shoemaker’s daughter when she is studying in Moscow. I found the part where it discusses the move from communism to capitalism interesting, and how people where given tokens to buy a portion of businesses. Zhanna is involved in planning the privatisation of businesses whilst living in New York.

The reflection of the differences between life during and after the Soviet Union was also interesting. Life during the Soviet Union had involved long queues for low supplies of food, unlocked doors and children playing on the street, access to free education (which the family particularly benefited from) and time spent in prison for Zhanna’s father who sold his car for profit. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union food was plentiful but crime and unrest between communities increased.

Reading this has made me want to learn more about this period of time and to travel to this part of the world.

[Claire O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating insight into the lives of three generations of an extended Armenian family living within the USSR under the communist regime and in Russia and Azerbaijan after its collapse. This family did better than most and the father's ability to make friends and influence people, along with them all working very hard, ensured that they often prospered, although it did not protect them from the worst of the communist stranglehold. This true story shows the reality of the vagaries of the changing governments and the huge impacts it had on their lives, at various times being wealthy, in jail, staying with family until they were allocated a home, comfortably off, suffering at the hands of the Russian mafia, having their life saves wiped out, and rushing from their home before an invading army. It makes me very grateful for the current election process here in Ireland.

[Lourdes Piñeiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este verano he leído otra novela que giraba alrededor de las persecuciones de Stalin y ahora me he sumergido en este relato de memoria real que abarca ochenta años de historia soviética. ¡Cuántas grietas por recomponer! Rusia, ese país desconocido para mí…; estoy intentando acercarme a él, a sus pequeñas historias alejadas de esos discursos pomposos y oficiales.
Resulta emocionante seguir esas luchas individuales, ese fervor por mejorar la vida de tu familia y, en general, por la fuerza de las raíces familiares.
Únicamente podría incluir que quizás le falta “garra” narrativa, se hubiera podido sacar más partido al relato.
(Avisaré a su traductora, Silvia Furió, y amiga que repase la página 67 para futuras reediciones; “y que casualmente era un un referente…”)

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Al principio me sorprendió porque no se trata de una novela sino de una crónica de la vida de la familia de la mujer del autor, Zhanna, desde la infancia de sus padres hasta la actualidad. La narración nos lleva desde Armenia y Chechenia hasta Siberia. El estilo periodístico hace que la lectura no sea tan ágil pero enseguida te acostumbras. He aprendido muchísimo sobre los conflictos en Armenia, Chechenia, Siberia y la evolución de la URSS en general. Jamás había sentido tanta compasión por el pueblo ruso. Lectura muy recomendada.

[Liam Cheasty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a fan of Conor O'Clery when he was journalist with the Irish Times,he always seemed so well informed and his writing is very good. This is not his story but that of his now father in law, an Armenian shoemaker and his daughter, who married Conor O'Clery. If one was to write a sweeping novel to encompass life in the Soviet USSR and post communism this would be it. The fact that the story is from real life makes it all the better. An excellent read and a follow up post Ukraine and Putin would be great.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed O’Clery’s book, it is in parts a history book, as he does not embellish the facts, but provides a clear picture on the geo political issues of the time. You can sense O’Clery’s deep admiration and respect for his wife’s hard working extended family, and their incredible story of resourcefulness, surviving the Communism regime and then adjusting as the world changed around them as the Soviet Union broke apart with all its repercussions.

[Mayraigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. It was really interesting to read a true story about people living in the Soviet union and particularly the Armenian people. Gave a great insight into life in Siberia and the caucuses. Would recommend!
My only gripe was that the photographs sometimes acted as spoilers but that could be due to me reading the book on a kindle. Reminds me about how lucky I am to live in a peaceful part of Ireland.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

at times interesting perspectives on live in communist Russia, from Stalin through glasnost, perestroika, up to Putin, following author's wife's family.

detailed hardship and persecution, but almost always the family had extensive ties and contacts to lessen their impact, and seemed to live a relatively well-off life, second homes etc. Never got clear picture of how or why they were different to general population, but did not seem typical

[Gonzaga Escauriaza · Rating 4 out of 5]

It caught my attention from the very first moment.

Very easy to read because the author is does not intent to tell the most awesome story of the history.

It is just the story of his wife`s family in the USSR during crucial moments.

A very good surprise. I want to read something more of the author.

[JWButler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellently written fascinating insight into the former Soviet States and Russia, from the vantage point of the writer who is married to the third generation of the family. It details the experiences of the wider family too and their interesting ethnic backgrounds. It’s very personal but gives wonderful historical and modern political context. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Maureen Hartmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really engaging and an easy lesson in recent USSR history told from the story of an Armenian shoemaker and his family and their struggles and ultimate survival through different Communist leaders during his and his daughters lifetime . Easy to read and very interesting and informative .