This Much I Know

Jonathan Spector

Lukesh is a professor who knows exactly how humans operate. He literally teaches the subject. But when the son of a white supremacist asks Lukesh to sponsor his thesis, and more personally, when his wife Natalya ups and leaves for Russia, Lukesh struggles to make sense of everything with his typical black-and-white understanding of the human brain. He is faced with an ultimatum: think about life in a new light, or sink. Jumping back and forth through time, This Much I Know weaves in stories of Svetlana Alliluyeva—Stalin’s daughter—who has become disillusioned with her father’s ideas and considers defecting to the United States. Her story mirrors the story of Lukesh, Natalya, and his student Harold; their parallel journeys explore how a person changes their mind, if we are responsible for things we cannot control, and after it all, if something that was once submerged can still float.

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