My Father's Letters

All over the world the historical record is being distorted and weaponised. This makes the balanced, conscientiously researched work of such an organization as Memorial more valuable than ever. My Father’s Letters is well presented and deeply moving. The translation is fluent and all the necessary background information is clearly provided. Some passages conjure up the life of an individual family - and of an entire culture - with heart-breaking vividness – Robert ChandlerAstoundingly, these stories are not miserable. Yes, the men mention their inadequate shelter, clothing and food, but the overwhelming impact is the expression of their love for their families… My Father’s Letters is beautifully produced – Vin Arthey * Scotsman *What is heart-breaking and pitiful about these salvaged letters home is their very ordinariness - the tender love expressed for wives and children, the enquiries about their education and welfare, the little bits of advice about what to study, how to behave, well-meant homilies, as if everyone is trying to carry on participating in daily lives, giving voice to hope, when there was no hope – Roger Lewis * Telegraph *The book’s signal achievement is vividly and intimately to present the human cost of tyranny – Alun David * Jewish Chronicle *

Memorial Human Rights Centre is a Russian historical and civil rights group that operates in a number of post-Soviet states. It focuses on recording and publicising the Soviet Union’s totalitarian past, and monitoring human rights in Russia and other post-Soviet states.

Georgia Thomson is a translator from Russian to English. She studied at the Institute Superieur d’Interpretation et de Traduction (ISIT) in Paris and went on to attain a First Class Hons degree in Russian and French. She lived in Moscow for several years and is now based in London.