Jennifer duBois: A Partial History of Lost Causes

In this mesmerizing and exquisitely rendered debut novel, a long-lost letter links two characters. In Cambridge, MA, Irina Ellison finds an old, photocopied letter her father had written to the young Aleksandr Bezetov, asking how one proceeds in a lost cause. Irina decides to travel to Russia to find Bezetov and get an answer for her father, and for herself. This stunning novel explores the possibilities of courage, the endurance of memory, and the stubbornness and splendor of human will.