A very happy day today: I've finally found and bought Masha Gessen's book, Two Babushkas, at a small English-language bookstore on Myasnitskaya, the John Parsons Bookshop.

I saw the book lying there the moment I entered the place; I grabbed it and went straight to the cashier's. I told the saleswoman I'd been looking for the book everywhere, for a long time, even in Istanbul, where the non-fiction selection is incomparably better. She seemed to have caught some of my joy and gave me a 5-percent discount: I paid 516 rubles instead of 543, but was prepared to pay twice as much, I guess. She said the book arrived only two weeks ago, on July 16.

I've already finished reading the prologue - loved it. Hope the rest of the book is as good!