The documentary novel “Escape” by Maxim D. Shrayer is the story of the author’s childhood and youth, which passed under the sign of emigration from the USSR. The book is set against the historical backdrop of the late 1970s and 1980s: politics, student life, travel around the country, and brewing ethnic and religious conflicts in the Soviet Empire on the verge of collapse. The book is written with humor, filled with bitterness and rage. “Escape” is a story of unrequited love for Russia, which broke the heart of a future emigrant.