SVETLANA: The IncredibLe Story of Stalin's Daughter

From miscellaneous interviews, a careful reading of the New York Times, and much burrowing in books on Stalin, Mr. Ebon has constructed a scaffolding around Svetlana with plenty of space for conjecture and allowance for adjustment to her own account (which he had obviously not seen). Svetlana's itinerary in India, whom she saw, what they said or may have said; the details of her departure, her stopover in Rome, her various residences in Switzerland--all this is recapitulated with some authority, many assumptions. There follow the cullings from history, some substantiated by Svetlana, others amended. The final sections (one is entitled ""New York Temptations"") are filler of the most obvious sort: quotations from unnamed ""authorities,"" comments on the consequences of her defection, armchair analysis of her beliefs (and character), advice as to her proper conduct. A tabloid treatment, best considered expendable.