As we approached the two Ford Deluxe Tudors—one green, one black—Xavier opened the door of the green one and let the mother get out from the backseat. Luc stood near the driver’s side door of the car behind us, his hand under his suit jacket, his pistol loaded and ready.
As I passed the mother, I gave her a warm smile and said, “God bless you!” Osip took her arm and led her around the corner toward the hotel entrance. His last exchange was complete.
As I got into the car and sat in the backseat next to James, I thought about Lovett. I believed he was indeed dead, but still, part of me wasn’t sure. And as Xavier began to drive, I wondered how I’d ever be able to confirm his death. I figured Bobby would help me find a way.
I turned around and watched the Riga Hotel’s lights disappear in the distance. I believed that Zorin would kill both Osip and Roman when they returned to MR4. They were too young to know how the Soviet brass operated. I also couldn’t help feeling that Colonel Zorin himself would be executed sooner than later, as Stalin seemed to know nothing but finding reasons to off his own confidants.
I turned to James and realized I needed to get him in to see a proper doctor as soon as we arrived in Brussels en route to the port in Le Havre, France. My best guess was that he was suffering from treatable asthma. But, as planned, I wasn’t about to return to Berlin for fear that Zorin might have some men waiting for us at the station. And we needed to get out of Riga as soon as possible.
The last thing Bobby had told me was that they believed Stalin would soon be moving troops into Latvia, and the embassy believed it was only a matter of weeks, if not days, before Hitler attacked Poland. We needed to leave Europe right away. War was likely fast approaching.
“Dad,” said James, as we motored down the street.
“Yeah, son.”
“Where are we going?”
“To America, son. To the United States of America.”
READING GROUP GUIDE
The suggested questions that follow are included to enhance your group’s reading of this book.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Why do you think Prescott, an engineer by training, continues to be drawn to working for the U.S. Government?
2. Discuss the friendship between the Ellingtons and the Sweets, and give some reasons Ellington might need Prescott to work with him in Haiti.
3. All of the figures whom Prescott and Loretta meet at Moscow’s Hotel National in Chapter 6 are actual historical figures. What circumstances do you think enticed African Americans to immigrate to the Soviet Union during the first half of the twentieth century?
4. This novel presents thorough research of factual events that occurred in Stalin’s Russia. Discuss the plausibility/implausibility of the following fictional events that happened to the Sweet family given what you know of the history of the period.
• A black man working for the U.S. foreign service
• Loretta’s artistic style and fame in the Soviet Union
• The way Prescott finds the bugs placed in Spaso House by the Soviets
• Incarceration of the entire Sweet family
• The Sweets’ disguise as they leave Russia
5. Loretta perhaps shows the most growth across the two novels, The Strivers’ Row Spy and Beneath the Darkest Sky. Discuss her path to becoming a famous Soviet artist.
6. Why do you think the author dedicated the novel to Lovett Fort-Whiteman? How is Lovett’s dream similar to or different from Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream?
7. In what way did Lovett Fort-Whiteman’s view of racism in America differ from that of the Communist Party’s view?
8. Discuss the political/economic reasons for Stalin’s gulag system. What event that occurred while Prescott was imprisoned did you find most egregious?
9. Thousands of Americans left the States during the Great Depression to accept jobs in the Soviet Union, an estimated 10,000 in 1931 alone. Many of them were eventually swept up in the purges and died in Stalin’s gulags. Why has this fact been virtually ignored in American history books?
10. Many expatriates living in the Soviet Union during the purges were not allowed to return home, and more than a few Americans were also imprisoned in the gulags. Why didn’t FDR exert more pressure on Stalin to protect these Americans’ rights?
11. Discuss some aspects of history that you were not aware of before reading this novel.
12. The author uses chapter juxtapositions between real time and events that have already occurred. Discuss the effectiveness of this literary device.
13. Given how this novel ends, can you predict what may lie ahead for the Sweet family?
Also by Jason Overstreet
The Strivers’ Row Spy
Copyright
To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.
DAFINA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2018 by Jason Overstreet
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Library of Congress Card Catalogue Number: 2017951326
Dafina and the Dafina logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-1-4967-0178-7
First Kensington Hardcover Edition: February 2018
eISBN-13: 978-1-4967-0179-4
eISBN-10: 1-4967-0179-8
First Kensington Electronic Edition: February 2018