Anne Konrad's Red Quarter Moon is the gripping account of her search for family members lost and disappeared within the Soviet Union. Konrad's ancestors, Mennonites, had settled the Ukrainian steppes in the late 1790s. An ethno-religious minority, they became special objects of Soviet persecution. Though her parents fled in 1929, many relatives remained in the USSR.

Konrad's search for these missing extended family members took place over twenty years and five continents - on muddy roads, lonesome steppes, and in old letters, documents, or secret police archives. Her story emerges as both haunting and inspiring, filled with dramatically different accounts from survivors now scattered across the world. She aligns the voices of her subjects chronologically against the backdrop of Soviet policy, intertwining the historical context of the Terror Years with her own personal quest. Red Quarter Moon is an enthralling journey into the past that offers a unique look at the lives of ordinary families and individuals in the USSR.

Anne Konrad is a writer living in Toronto.

Anne Konrad's profile page

Hiroaki Kuromiya is a professor in the Department of History at Indiana University.

Hiroaki Kuromiya's profile page

‘This personal narrative of one of the darkest hours for Russian Mennonites is one of the most compelling I have read… The stories, always riveting in their emotion and energy, are told in historical context so that you always know the backdrop of what was driving the governing officials, the guards and the many henchmen who carried out their ruthless rules.’

Canadian Mennonite November 26, 2012

‘In this historical narrative, Anne Konrad has written a fascinating book about her search for her Russian-Mennonite relatives who were lost after the ”Shadow of Stalin” had covered their homeland.’

Mennonite Quarterly Review

‘Konrad has crafted a gripping piece of scholarship that immerses the reader in both stories of her family and her own process of discovery.’

Journal of Mennonite Studies; vol 31:2013