Nothing Is Forgotten

In late 1950s New Jersey, Michael Daniels- or Misha Dainov, as he’s referred to by his doting Russian-Jewish grandmother- is at loose ends after high school, until he becomes the “Mad Russian” host of a nightly underground radio show. Spinning rock ‘n’ roll music and creating satires of USSR leader Nikita Khrushchev, Michael feels alive for three hours each night while on the air. To his surprise, these Khrushchev satires make the radio show a local hit, and unbeknownst to him, he is picking up loyal listeners half a world away in a small Soviet city. There, Yuli Kosoy, a war orphan, is smuggling coveted American goods into the country alongside her guardian, a black marketer who found her huddled in the forest after a German attack. Just as Michael’s radio show is taking off, he discovers his grandmother’s body in a pool of blood, shot to death in the candy store she had run for years. As Michael tries to figure out what happened, he finds that there is more to his grandmother’s life story than he ever imagined. Michael’s search for answers will take him to Munich, Paris, the South of France, and into Soviet Russia- where he meets Yuli, whose heartbreaking story connects to his own in surprising and important ways. -paraphrased from inside cover of “Nothing Is Forgotten” by Peter Golden

Story added by jaywalkinshawol on July 1, 2020