Laura Levy

Siberian Odyssey: Part Two: the Immigrants Laura Levy

This fictionalized history of the author's maternal ancestors in Siberia provides the focus of this wide ranging book. From unjustly exiled Russians to Polish immigrants, the cavalcade of characters comes together in far eastern Siberia. They were part of the diverse group of people who settled there before 1885, known as Old Settlers or Siberiaks. Part Two, subtitled The Immigrants, introduces Michael Gladstein, a farmer and cattleman living in a village near Warsaw, whose lifelong desire is to escape the Pale of Settlement where all Jews in Russia must reside. The story of The Exiles continues in alternate chapters. But the main thread of Part Two shows how Michael and his two youngest sons manage to lawfully break out of the Pale and head for their dreamed of ranch in Siberia.