Tatiana and Alexander

Tatiana and Alexander
Paullina Simons

A powerful story of grief, hope and an epic love, from the Russian-born author of internationally bestselling novels, TULLY and ROAD TO PARADISE.The world at war … two people in love.Tatiana is eighteen years old and pregnant when she miraculously escapes war-torn Leningrad to the West, believing herself to be a widow. Her husband, Major Alexander Belov, a decorated hero of the Soviet Union, has been arrested by Stalin's infamous secret police and is awaiting imminent death as a traitor and a spy.Tatiana begins her new life in America. In wartime New York City she finds work, friends and a life beyond her dreams. However, her grief is inescapable and she keeps hearing Alexander calling out to her.Meanwhile, Alexander faces the greatest danger he's ever known. An American trapped in Russia since adolescence, he has been serving in the Red Army and posing as a Soviet citizen to protect himself. For him, Russia's war is not over, and both victory and defeat will mean certain death.As the Second World War moves into its spectacular close, Tatiana and Alexander are surrounded by the ghosts of their past and each other. They must struggle against destiny and despair as they find themselves in the fight of their lives. A master of the historical epic, Paullina Simons takes us on a journey across continents, time, and the entire breadth of human emotion, to create a heartrendingly beautiful love story that will live on long after the final page is turned.

PAULLINA SIMONS

TATIANA AND ALEXANDER

Map (#ulink_6b4ff8c6-fabe-5b69-b2fe-749a42f8652e)

COPYRIGHT (#ulink_4d6b476d-033f-595e-90e5-9cdb87c3a45f)

Harper

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First published in Great Britain by Flamingo an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 2003 and also under the title The Bridge to Holy Cross

Copyright © Paullina Simons 2003

Paullina Simons asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

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Source ISBN: 9780007118892

Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2015 ISBN: 9780007370078

Version: 2015-03-09

DEDICATION (#ulink_7e131164-b1f9-58b8-9132-f0914f3cdad6)

Once again for my grandfather and grandmother, ninety-eight and ninety-four, who still plant cucumbers and grow flowers and live happily ever after,

and

for our good friend Anatoly Studenkov, still as ever left behind in Russia, who does not.

EPIGRAPH (#ulink_76181885-141d-5d1b-9d2b-17e5b7aa121f)

And in the moonlight’s pallid glamour

Rides high upon the charging brute

Head held high ’mid echoing clamour

The Bronze Horseman in pursuit.

And all through that long night no matter

What road the frantic wretch might take

There would pound with ponderous clatter

The Bronze Horseman in his wake.

—Aleksandr Pushkin

CONTENTS

Cover (#u3dc751e8-cf12-5c34-a019-68320211f74c)

Title Page (#u81a3a252-3eeb-5084-ab64-e9c3139e6129)

Map (#ulink_a7431a1d-e2f1-581a-b9fb-f447afc6263d)

Copyright (#ulink_137bb4d4-c236-5e16-8da1-4df524178e6e)

Dedication (#ulink_fd46c1f8-427a-5cc4-a881-db5817f673b6)

Epigraph (#ulink_89b3c810-ff0a-5aad-be7b-04af4b10d334)

Prologue (#ulink_297552ea-d686-58c4-8998-0d55273bd502)

BOOK ONE (#ulink_11e39969-7314-5d0e-b35c-63d5a3368236)

The Second America (#ulink_11e39969-7314-5d0e-b35c-63d5a3368236)

CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_39919f68-8ba3-554c-acf0-c544a7eb2540)

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_4a322686-0c39-50d9-8970-26373b06ff2a)

CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_a6dc0832-dacf-51b2-87ed-9bf9c8e6662a)

CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_6c81e66e-fd4d-5910-bb36-f7a155bb1340)

CHAPTER FIVE (#ulink_2c2ea2ff-61bf-5857-acf3-c3ad0387b4b5)