Trenul spre Samarkand

In 1923, five hundred children must flee famine by train. Deev must take them from Kazan to Samarkand. There, they can find more food. The young Soviet state still faces the strife of civil war. The forced seizure of food has killed millions. It has also torn families apart. Many children roam with no homes and too little food.

Guzel Iahina sets her novel in this past. It follows the six-week train trip to save these children. They cross the forests of the Volga and Kazakh grasslands. They pass through the Kîzîlkum desert and Turkestan’s mountains. They meet White Cossacks and peasants who have fled. They also meet secret police and Basmachi fighters. The children have their own odd habits and traits. Hunger and disease put their lives at risk. So do murder and those who betray their trust. Deev may have killed some of these children’s parents.

The rescue grows into a quest on a mythic scale. They must keep the children alive and hold onto right and wrong. Cruel acts and grief mix with humour, hope and love. Some show care and put others first, breaking through fear. Records of the past form the base of the tale. Vivid scenes give it the pace of a film.

Iahina links the tale to her father’s father. He came from a large peasant family. After 1917, he entered a children’s home. He lived through a train trip from the Volga region to Samarkand. Half the children on that train died. In a later famine, he almost put his third son in care too. That son was Iahina’s father. This past led her to ask why loving parents gave up their children.

Luana Schidu translated the novel from Russian. This is the third edition, in the Raftul Denisei series.