Summary

Part 3 of the novel begins with Chapter 23, occurring in Sofya’s perspective in 1917, after the Streshnayvas have spent the winter in captivity. The family is moved to the gamekeeper’s former quarters by Vladi. They wait for Father to join them and Sofya describes Agnessa’s gradual physical decline. The rebels and “half the village of Malinov” have taken up residence at the estate and Luba “had seen the briefest glimpse of Max” (186).

Vladi enters the room with Father and tells him, “if we don’t get replies from those letters soon, I have no reason to keep you all around” (186). The Streshnayvas wonder whether representatives at the Ministry have “‘smelled foul play,’” though Vladi’s scheme “had worked for almost seven months” (187). Luba had devised numerous plans for escape and Sofya describes the latest: “all month, she’d been collecting lengths of...