Title: Away From the Dead

Author: David Bergen

Bergen crafted a novel based on accounts written by two very different sources, a Mennonite farmer who immigrated from Ukraine to Canada and a Russian writer of this time period. The book is loosely based on the lives of several generations of family members who were affected by the events of the Russian Revolution and whose surviving members came to live in Canada in the 1920’s. I enjoyed the author’s simple prose and thoughtful character development. The family members, with their fears and faults, kept me reading to learn how their lives would unfold.