"The Nesting Dolls"

Alina Adams was born in Odessa, Ukraine, and emigrated from the USSR with her family in 1977. She lives in New York City with her husband and three children.

Adams applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Nesting Dolls, and reported the following:

From page 69:

Adam wasn’t looking at Edward. He was looking at Daria, both of them still breathing heavily from the exertion and the dizziness and… nothing else whatsoever.

“You want back to Odessa?” Adam growled.

Daria didn’t trust her voice. She nodded.

“I can arrange that.”

Daria gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. She turned to Edward, wondering if he’d heard, if he’d understood, if he realized what this meant?

“I can get him out,” Adam went on. “And the little girl. But you.” Adam was speaking to Daria now, no one else. “You stay. Here. With me.”

What a fun game! Page 69 of The Nesting Dolls is actually an excellent preview of what's to come in the story, not to mention what the story is about. It sets up the theme of the entire book, as well as the characters who put it into motion. Marshall McLuhan, godfather of the Page 69 Test, was right!

Page 69 introduces Daria, and the theme that it's not about just finding the right man. It's about finding the right man for the right time and the right situation. Daria's granddaughter, Natasha, faces similar choices, as does Natasha's granddaughter, Zoe. The times are different - the USSR of the 1930s, the USSR of the 1970s, and present day Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. The men are different, ranging from a concert pianist, to the brewer of illegal potato vodka, to a fighter for the rights of Soviet Jewish, to a sci-fi loving tech nerd, but the question of the right man - at the right time - persists.

Visit Alina Adams's website.

Q&A with Alina Adams.

My Book, The Movie: The Nesting Dolls.

--Marshal Zeringue