In 1917 Alexander Til, his stepbrother, Leon, and Atticus Tuohy leave New York City and the grinding life of the working-class poor for a better life: Til and Tuohy for the revolution in Russia, Leon for Palestine. Some 35 years later they meet again at Stalin's death. In the intervening years Til and Tuohy have fought and followed first Trotsky, then Lenin, and finally Stalin. Gradually Til's youthful vigor and passion yield to despair as his friends, his great love, his family, and his belief are destroyed by the party leadership. Tuohy rises as Til sinks. Fictional characters interact with real ones, who speak from history as well as imagination. Not as suspenseful as Littell's The Sisters, perhaps, but a sweeping and well-researched chronicle of a dream gone wrong.Ann Donovan, Central Washington Univ. Lib., Ellensburg