Red Crosses by Sasha Filipenko

“If you want to get inside the head of modern, young Russia, read Filipenko” - Svetlana Alexievich

One struggles against forgetting, while the other would like nothing better. In a novel full of heart and humanity that tells the story of an unexpected friendship between an old woman and her young neighbor, Sasha Filipenko combines a heartwarming tale of human connection with the history of modern Russia, from the Bolshevik revolution to the present day.

Tatyana Alexeyevna is an old woman, over ninety, rich in lived experience, and suffering the early stages of Alzheimer's. Every day, she loses a few more of her irreplaceable memories. Alexander, "Sasha," is a young man whose life has been brutally torn in two. Seeking solace and a new start he changes apartments, moving into a new home across the landing from Tatyana.

Little by little, the old woman and the young man forge an unlikely friendship, sharing their joys and sadness, recounting their triumphs and their losses, deciding together that they will not, cannot, forget.