1991, Doubleday Books

"Soviet Women" chronicles the Soviet Union's "new wonderland of flux and surprises" through the eyes of an astute observer and masterful prose stylist who is herself of Russian descent and has traveled extensively in the U.S.S.R. In these pages, we hear women from Riga to Irkutsk complain about the double burdens of home and career with bitterness and frequent anger, and with a candor only recently made possible by 'glasnost'. We hear verdicts on Stalinism from women whose lives incarnate both the tragedy of Soviet history and the immense spiritual awakening that stirs the land. And we meet a new generation of pioneers...battling the U.S.S.R.'s archaic bureaucracy...activists from all walks of life striving to create more humane relationships between individuals and the state. "Soviet Women" is an engrossing and lyrical book filled with high drama and humor, enriched by the author's considerable knowledge of Russian culture. It is also a provocative document on a universal dilemma of twentieth-century life - the paradoxes of women's equality.

"Gray's series of sharply focused, brilliantly incisive vignettes add up to a remarkably revealing, often surprising profile of Soviet women under glasnost ."
Publisher's Weekly

"Though written from interviews held only three years ago, this fascinating book's pro-Gorbachov/perestroika enthusiasm already has a fugitive feel. But the freshness and strength of these voices from a culture in which 'women can do everything; men can do the rest' easily withstand change. "
The Observer

"The portraits are drawn with humor and warmth, interspersed with history and social observation."
The New York Times

"An insightful look at Soviet women from all levels of society."
USA Today

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