Anne Konrad's Red Quarter Moon is the gripping account of her search for family members lost and disappeared within the Soviet Union. Konrad's ancestors, Mennonites, had settled the Ukrainian steppes in the late 1790s. An ethno-religious minority, they became special objects of Soviet persecution. Though her parents fled in 1929, many relatives remained in the USSR.

Konrad's search for these missing extended family members took place over twenty years and five continents - on muddy roads, lonesome steppes, and in old letters, documents, or secret police archives. Her story...