Living in the new Russia is not easy, even with a car, in the year 2000. The cost of medical treatment forces young mother Alexandra Pavlova to wait until she is sure her child needs hospitalisation before taking her for treatment. Nadezhda had been fighting off the illness but now her temperature is rising and Alexandra and her husband Yuri load her into the small car and drive. The doctor has worked for two months without pay and the parents will have to supply medicines themselves. The little girl also has heart trouble, and now needs better care.

Nadezhda translates as Hope, which is why the story is about SAVING HOPE. Alexandra had worked in a bio laboratory which produced viruses and is well informed about illnesses. However she is unaware that the national security agents are catching people who are trying to steal deadly viruses to aid terrorists in other countries. An agent called Sergei is reluctantly working with a CIA agent who shares information about a suspect entering Russia, as neither of them wants Iran to access biological weapons. Alexandra's single friend Lena suggests that to get more money, they can be, or pretend to be, keen to meet western men, who will buy them clothes which they can then sell. Such is Alexandra's desperation that she agrees.

I found this an interesting study of the economy in a country where doctors are offered bathrobes in lieu of salary and car factory workers are paid in car parts. Entrepreneurs are bound to spring up and not all business is legitimate. There is an internet cafe but not everyone can afford to use it. Like Renko of Martin Cruz Smith's novels, the government man Sergei has no desire to leave Russia but accepts changes although he is no more prosperous. Liese Sherwood-Fabre explains that the average citizen sustains their families by planting a vegetable garden, neither the Soviet-era nor democracy removing their need for home-grown beet, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers and squash. The people are inured to having to queue, bribe and beg to help themselves, as there is not enough of any service to go around. The characters are part of this background and undergo the same tragedies, celebrations and betrayals as could happen anywhere else, always casting a wistful eye on countries which appear better off. SAVING HOPE is worth a read to experience life in Russia.

Book Summary

In one of Siberia's formerly closed cities, Alexandra Pavlova, an unemployed microbiologist, struggles to save her daughter’s life. When she turns to Vladimir, her oldest friend, for help, she's drawn into Russia’s underworld. His business dealings with the Iranians come to the attention of Sergei Borisov, an FSB (formerly the KGB) agent. Alexandra finds herself joining forces with Sergei to stop the export of a deadly virus in a race to save both her daughter and the world.