Orlando Figes

This is the true story of Lev and Sveta, two young lovers separated by the Second World War and then the terrible experience of the Gulag –  where the Soviet state sent Lev for ten years, on absurd and arbitrary charges. Throughout these ten years, Lev and Sveta managed to smuggle uncensored letters to each other and even meet. Both sides of this extraordinary correspondence have survived.

Just Send Me Word is Orlando’s uniquely powerful and moving account of human constancy under impossible circumstances – a love story like no other. Join us as Orlando explores this undercover love story, and speaks about the only major record of daily life in the Gulag.