When the Doves Disappeared

Communist Estonia, 1941. As the Allies and the Axis clash in battle, two Estonian cousins are fleeing from the Red Army: Roland, a loyal freedom fighter, and Edgar, an opportunistic mercenary. When the Nazis take control of the country, Roland goes into hiding. Edgar abandons his wife, Juudit, and transforms himself into a loyal supporter of Hitler’s regime.
        Flash forward to 1963: Estonia is back under communist control behind the Iron Curtain. Edgar has taken on yet another identity as a Soviet apparatchik, desperate to hide the secrets of his past and maintain his connections to power. But his fate remains entangled with Roland and Juudit, who may hold the key to uncovering the truth. In a fast-paced page-turner that switches between these two time periods, Sofi Oksanen brings to life an unforgettable story of deception, surveillance, passion, and betrayal. 

 

“Piercing. . . . [A] chilling story of loss and betrayal.” —The New Yorker

“A brave and important voice. . . . Betrayal, secrecy, and memory are the haunting themes of Sofi Oksanen’s accomplished new novel.” —The Economist

“Finland’s best-known writer. . . . One of the stars of the European literary scene.” —The New York Review of Books
 
“Powerfully evocative. . . . Has the quick pace and plot twists of a literary thriller.” —The Plain Dealer

“Vivid. . . . Tense, politically relevant. . . . Weave[s] an intrigue that builds to moments of shocking revelation.” —Financial Times

“A thrilling page-turner. . . . A shattering family drama and an unsparing deconstruction of history. . . . Renewed Russian-sabre-rattling in the Baltics makes this a perfect time to read this superb writer.” —The Independent (London)

“A superb novel. . . . Over it hangs a Graham Greene-like atmosphere of human wretchedness and compromised political faith.” —The Daily Telegraph (London)

“Astonishing. . . . No one in these pages is predictable, because survival in this period, Oksanen so beautifully reveals, meant learning to love only from the part of the heart that knows how to betray.” —Toronto Star

“Brilliant. . . . [A] great historical thriller. . . . [Oksanen] has woven a story of betrayal, lies, political deceit, and modern history.” —The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

“Engaging. . . . Suspenseful. . . . Gorgeousness jumps off the page when least expected.” —Winnipeg Free Press

“Powerful fiction that stirs history, war crimes, and psychology into a compelling mix. . . . Oksanen captures both the futility of the citizens of a tiny country who yearn for freedom and the dark heart of an opportunist who would sell out his own family in order to survive.” —Booklist

“Oksanen depicts civilian life in wartime and under communist oppression in rich historical detail, skillfully manipulating chronology and threading clues subtly throughout the narrative as suspense builds. . . . Highly recommended.” —Library Journal (starred) 
Sofi Oksanen is a Finnish-Estonian novelist and playwright. She has received numerous prizes for her work, including the Swedish Academy Nordic Prize, the Prix Femina, the Budapest Grand Prize, the European Book Prize, and the Nordic Council Literature Prize. In 2018, she was made a Chevalier of the French Order of Arts and Letters. She lives in Helsinki.

www.sofioksanen.com
Twitter: @SofiOksanen
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Western Estonia, Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union
 
We went to Rosalie’s grave one last time and placed some wild- flowers on the grassy moonlit mound. We were silent for a moment with the blooms between us. I didn’t want to let Juudit go, which is why I said out loud what a person shouldn’t say in that situation:
 
“We’ll never see each other again.”
 
I could hear the gravel in my voice, and it brought a gleam of water to her eyes, that gleam that had often knocked me off balance, welling up and sending my rational mind lightly afloat, like a bark boat. Rocking on a stream that flowed from her eyes. Maybe I spoke bluntly to dull my own pain, maybe I just wanted to be cruel so that when she’d left she could curse me and my callousness, or maybe I yearned for some final declaration, for her to say she didn’t want to leave. I was still uncertain of the movements of her heart, even after all we’d been through together.
 
“You regret bringing me here,” Juudit whispered.
 
I was startled by her perceptiveness, rubbed my neck in embarrassment. She’d given me a haircut just that evening, and it itched where the hair had fallen down inside my collar.
 
“It’s all right. I understand,” she said.
 
I could have contradicted her, but I didn’t, although she hadn’t been a burden. The men had insinuated otherwise. But I had to bring her to the safety of the forest when I heard that she’d had to flee from Tallinn. The Armses’ farm wasn’t a safe place for us with the Russians advancing. The forest was better. She’d been like an injured bird in the palm of my hand, weakened, her nerves feverish for weeks. When our medic was killed in combat, the men finally let Mrs. Vaik come to help us, us and Juudit. I had succeeded in rescuing her one more time, but once she stepped out onto the road that loomed ahead of us, I wouldn’t be able to protect her anymore. The men were right, though—women and children belonged at home. Juudit had to go back to town. The noose around us was tightening and the safety of the forest was melting away. I watched her face out of the corner of my eye. Her gaze had turned to the road that she would leave by; her mouth was open, she was gulping the air with all her strength, and the feel of her breath threatened to undermine my resolve.
 
“It’s best this way,” I said. “Best for all of us. Go back to the life you left behind.”
 
“It’s not the same anymore. It never will be.”

Excerpted from When the Doves Disappeared by Sofi Oksanen. Copyright © 2015 by Sofi Oksanen. Excerpted by permission of Knopf, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.