Just Send Me Word is the extraordinary love story of two Muscovites, Lev and Svetlana. Kept apart for fourteen years by the Second World War and the Gulag, they stayed true to each other and left behind them an astonishing monument to their love: a remarkable cache of 1,500 letters exchanged between them as Lev battled to survive in one of Stalin's most notorious labour camps.

Smuggled in and out of the camp by workers and officials, these uncensored, beautifully written letters have a shocking immediacy, and allow us into the interior world of two people. Svetlana's letters are a testament to constancy and hope, even in the grey world of post-War Moscow. Lev's, composed with care and tenderness, are torn between a wish to reassure Svetlana, and the desire to create an enduring record of the terrible conditions into which he had been thrown. Each one of these writings could have been his last.

Orlando Figes tells Svetlana and Lev's story with remarkable insight and warmth, brilliantly reconstructing the broader world in which their narrative unfolded. Our historical understanding is enhanced by their letters, the only known real-time written record of life in Stalin's Gulag, but, as importantly, we are gripped by the story of a couple who, swept along by historical events, keep their devotion alive. As this extraordinary book shows, even in the worst of times and places, love, dedication and hope could triumph.

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Praise for Just Send Me Word:

"This powerful narrative by a distinguished historian will take its place not just in history but in literature" (Robert Massie)

"A poignant record illuminating the experiences of the millions who suffered untold miseries in Stalin's grinding system of repression - and throughout the history of Russia as a whole. But, more than anything, this is a book about love ... as fascinating and inspiring as it is heartbreaking; a unique contribution to Gulag scholarship as well as a study of the universal power of love, as relevant now as it was then. It is impossible to read without shedding tears" (Simon Sebag Montefiore, Financial Times)

"Electrifying, passionate, devoted, despairing, exhilarating ... a tale of hope, resilience, grit and love" (The Times)

"Remarkable ... moving... possesses extraordinary value ... a notable contribution to Gulag literature" (Max Hastings, Sunday Times)

"Immensely touching ... [a] heartening gem of a book" (Anna Reid Literary Review)

"The remarkable true story of a love affair between two Soviet citizens ... as much a literary challenge as a historical one: the book can be read as a non-fiction novel" (Telegraph)

"Figes has achieved something extraordinary ... the gulag story lacks individuals for us to sympathise with: a Primo Levi, an Anne Frank or even an Oskar Schindler. Just Send Me Word may well be the book to change that ... the kind of love that most of us can only dream of" (Oliver Bullough, Independent)

"It is hard to imagine a more heartening story of love, courage and endurance ... a fascinating historical record but also a wonderful love story" (Express)

"Figes sustains the reader's interest by showing how life and love continued to flourish within the space not occupied by the Stalinist state ... Just Send Me Word is a rich evocation of the experience of daily life inside and outside the Gulag, as well as a moving love story" (Wendy Slater, Times Literary Supplement)

"Remarkable ... Figes, selecting and then interpreting this mass of letters, makes them tell two kinds of story. The first is a uniquely detailed narrative of the gulag, of the callous, slatternly universe which consumed millions of lives ... The second is about two people determined not to lose each other " (Neal Ascherson, Guardian)

"A quiet, moving and memorable account of life in a totalitarian state ... The book often reads like a novel ... captivating" (Evening Standard)

"[Figes] is, as always, a skilled and compelling storyteller, here smoothly combining extracts and summaries of the letters, archive documents and later oral testimony ... into a dramatic and sometimes breathless narrative of love conquering all ... extraordinary" (Polly Jones, Times Higher Education)

"Orlando Figes has wrought something beautiful from dark times" (Ian Thomson, Observer)

"This account of life under Stalin's Terror is unique, not just because it is an uplifting love story, but also because of the way, against all odds, that it came to be published" (Victor Sebestyen, Mail on Sunday)

"A heart-rending record of extraordinary human endurance" (Kirkus Reviews)

"[A] remarkable tale of love and devotion during the worst years of the USSR ... [Figes's] fine narrative pacing enhances this moving, memorable story" (Publishers Weekly)