The Winter's Hero — Vassily Aksyonov

In this epic novel of the U.S.S.R. in the 1950s, a new generation of Gradovs--whom readers first met in Generations of Winter--takes center stage. Boris has turned to womanizing to forget the devastation of his mother's defection. Yolka catches the eye of the secret police chief and is thrown into a nightmare. Even aging patriarch Boris III is not safe in a world drowning in corruption.