The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Reva, Maria. Good Citizens Need Not Fear. New York: Doubleday, 2020.

Good Citizens Need Not Fear is structured as nine stories, which share specific narrative connections. The book is essentially a hybrid between a novel and a story collection. The first five stories take place in late-Soviet Ukraine, and the four last stories take place in Ukraine during the first few years after the fall of the Soviet Union.

“Novostroïka” follows Daniil Blinov, who works as an engineer at a food-packing plant. Due to housing shortages, he has been assigned to live with about 12 other people in a small apartment. One day, the heat in the apartment turns off, and the government refused to turn it back on, likely due to a gas shortage. Daniil and his cohabitants illegally purchase a small electric heater for their apartment. One day, two government agents arrive in the building to remove the body of a deceased man. Due to the tight hallway, they need to access Daniil’s apartment for space. In the ensuing cramped confusion, the heater falls off of the balcony and breaks on the street.

In “Little Rabbit,” an infant is sent to a government childcare facility designed for babies with birth defects. The infant has a cleft palate, so the other children name her Zaya, which means ‘little rabbit.’ As the child grows older, she learns that some children in the facility are sent to a different facility called an ‘internat,’ the conditions of which are even worse than her current living situation. One day, Zaya finds what appears to be shrunken, mummified saint, since her current facility used to be a monastery. Fearing that she will he sent to an internat, she flees, taking the saint with her.

“Letter of Apology” follows a KGB agent named Mikhail. He is assigned to acquire a signed letter of apology from a renowned poet named Konstantyn Illych. Illych supposedly made a private joke about the Soviet government. Mikhail meets with Illych, who refuses to sign the letter. Mikhail begins to follow Illych every day. Mikhail soon noticed that he is himself being followed, by Illych’s wife Milena Markivna. Mikhail soon believed that Milena is an undercover KGB agent who will recruit him for a special Honkr Guard assignment. Several of his family members were sent to unspecified locations years ago, supposedly to serve in the Honor Guard. However, Milena explains to him that he is mistaken, and that his family members were probably executed or imprisoned.

“Bone Music” follows a woman named Smena. She lives alone, and she makes money by selling bootleg records of Western music. She prints the records onto X-rays salvaged from hospitals. One day, an elderly woman named Nika visits Smena. Nika shows an X-ray of her own head to Smena. The X-ray shows a tumor, and Smena complains that hospitals will not treat her since her survival chances are low. When Nika asks to buy an X-day record, Smena worries that Nika intends to report Smena’s illegal business and claim Smena’s (relatively large) apartment for Nika’s family. However, Smena eventually relents and gives Nika a record. Soon after, it seems that the government has become aware of Smena’s business, so she disposed of her printing equipment. Nika is admitted today a hospital for treatment. Smena realizes that, if Nika did report her, it was likely in exchange for treatment.

In “Miss USSR,” the Soviet Union appears to be in the verge of collapse. Konstantyn Illych’s popularity has declined, his wife has left him, and he now works as the administrator of a cultural club in a small town called Kirovka. He organizes a local beauty pageant to gain attention and funding for the club. The Soviet government disapproves when hearing that the pageant winner, Orynko Bondar, sang a specifically pro-Ukraine song. The Soviet government then shut down a Miss Ukraine pageant that had begun to organize. Eventually, the Soviet government organizes its own Union-wide pageant. Illych wants to enter Orynko in the pageant, but the Soviet government sends Orynko to an engineering school in a small town. Illych decides to foster a teenage girl and enter her in the pageant under Orynko’s name. He fosters a teenage girl from an internat. Her name is Zaya (and she previously appeared in “Little Rabbit”). Her cleft palate has been mostly fixed via surgery. She reluctantly agrees to Illych’s plan, and he trains her for the pageant. During the pageant in Moscow, Zaya spits on one of the judges (who is also a high-ranking Soviet official) and runs away.

In “Lucky Toss,” the Soviet Union has collapsed. Illych now possesses the mummified saint, which Zaya inadvertently left behind when she ran away. Illych has built a shrine-like exhibit around the saint, and he makes a living by charging people to see it. Illych employs Mikhail, the former KGB agent, as the shrine’s security guard. Mikhail recalls how, during the Soviet era, he was once assigned to stop religious pilgrims from visiting a holy site (as the Soviet Union outlawed religion). In order to make the site harder to access, he indirectly arranged for the dynamiting of a tunnel that led to the site. 15 religious pilgrims died in the collapsing tunnel, and Mikhail still suffers from the guilt of this fact. One day, he accidentally knocks over the saint, and its teeth become dislodged on impact with the floor. Mikhail struggles to think of how to reattach the teeth. However, in a distressed state, he soon sells the saint on the black market and uses the money to have his own decaying teeth fixed in private clinic.

“Roach Brooch” follows Lila and Pyotr Palashkin, an elderly married couple. Their life savings became worth very little due to an inflation spike after the Soviet Union collapsed. They began selling bootleg records printed on X-rays. Pyotr has a benign tumor that is growing. He refused to have it removed, as his body scans are their source of X-rays. When band on foreign music are lifted, the Palashkins sell the X-rays to tourists, falsely claiming that the tumor was caused by radiation from the Chernobyl disaster. One day, their grandson dies of illness. One of his dying wishes is for his grandparents to have his roach brooch, a live roach with jewels glued to its carapace. When they discover that it is quite valuable, they prepare to sell it, only to soon discover that the jewels are counterfeit.

In “The Ermine Coat,” Milena Markivna is now living with a woman named Larissa. There are some hints that Milena and Larissa might be lovers. However, if that is true, Larissa’s two daughters are unaware. One day, Larissa is hired to sew a fur coat. Larissa plans to use the money to emigrate to Canada. She is a chemist, and Canada is recruiting scientists. Milena would not be able to come with them, since she is not a relative. Larissa’s older daughter does not want to be separated from Milena, so she (the older daughter) burns the coat.

In “Homecoming,” Zaya is now 19 years old. She works for a company that provides adverse experiences for wealthy clients. The difficult experiences help the clients to feel more grateful for their material advantages. One day, Zaya is assigned to bring clients to an abandoned internat for an excursion. It is the internat where Zaya was raised. During the excursion, Zaya becomes overwhelmed by her traumatic memories. When the company owner decided to buy the internat and make it a permanent site for the business, Zaya quits and flees. She finds Illych, who welcomes her enthusiastically. Illych’s apartment building soon collapses, so they move into the abandoned monastery where Zaya was raised in her early years.