A Girl's Survival in Stalin's Shadow: The Unflinching Truth of In the Clutches of Time

Nelli Kossko's three-part novel, In the Clutches of Time, tells the harrowing true story of Emmi Wagner, a young girl caught in the brutality of Soviet repression. Set in a remote village near Kostroma, Russia, the book follows Emmi's struggle for survival and dignity as she faces persecution due to her family's past.

Emmi Wagner is not yet ten when her life is upended. Born into a family already marked by tragedy, she lives in a rural exile settlement where ethnic minorities and so-called 'unreliable elements' are sent. Her father was arrested and executed by the NKVD in the 1930s. Her two older brothers vanished during a Nazi-ordered resettlement from their homeland near Odessa.

Despite her intelligence and ambition, Emmi is denied a place in the Komsomol, the Communist Youth League. Officials brand her an 'enemy of the people' because of her ancestry. Even as she excels in school, she is treated as an outcast, barred from the acceptance she craves.

As she grows older, Emmi begins to see the flaws in the Communist system she once believed in. Her disillusionment deepens her isolation, yet she refuses to surrender to despair. The novel's raw, unflinching prose exposes the cruelty of the regime and the resilience of those who endure it. Kossko's writing shifts between stark, direct sentences and reflective passages, forcing readers to confront the systemic forces that destroy lives.

The trilogy—Die geraubte Kindheit, Am anderen Ende der Welt, and Wo ist das Land …—began in 2018. It stands out among German-language works from former Soviet republics for its literary depth and emotional power.

In the Clutches of Time is available for €22.00 through BKDR Verlag, either by email at [email protected], by phone at (+49) 911.89219599, or in German bookstores. An excerpt can be read online at www.bkdr.de/in-den-faengen-der-zeit-n-kossko/. The novel's uncompromising honesty and masterful storytelling make it a significant contribution to literature on Soviet-era suffering.