Praise for local author's first book
by Maxine
Travis Holland's debut novel, The Archivist's Story traces the period of Pavel Dubrov's life when his job is to destroy books in Lubyanka prison where political prisoners are kept in the Stalinist Moscow of 1939. A former teacher of literature, Dubrov, in verifying an author for an unsigned work, discovers that the manuscript is two unpublished stories by Isaac Babel, one of his beloved authors. He steals the manuscript and hides it in a brick wall in his apartment basement. Although Russian society is breaking down during this tyrannical regime and Dubrov and his friends are filled with despair, his action provides some seed of hope for the future. A well-written and researched novel from this University of Michigan instructor.
Blog Post