Summary

In Chapter 43, Sasha hangs up the phone. She wonders if Grandma and Galya might have found the will to live if they had known Kolya survived, or if they might have at least died in peace. Sasha thinks about Kolya being forced to make the split-second decision to go to America. She feels he “died at that moment, and his life in the West is an afterlife” (277). Sasha needs to go outside, and Andrei accompanies her. She is not sure what to do next. Andrei says he has the power to “do something for you that no one else can do” (278). He offers to get her on a plane to America, “casually” adding that she could “do me a favor and never come back” (279).

In Chapter 44, Sasha and Andrei go to a restaurant with few customers. Andrei kisses her on the lips. Sasha...