Swimming in the Daylight: An American Student, a Soviet-Jewish Dissident, and the Gift of Hope

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There is always some part of the world where human rights are trampled and oppression quashes the human spirit. In the 1980s, it was the Soviet Union. In Swimming in the Daylight, Lisa Paul, a Catholic-American student living in Moscow in the early 80s, details how she grew to understand the perverse reality of the pre-Gorbachev Soviet regime as her friendship with her Russian-language tutor, Inna Kitrosskaya Meiman, blossomed. Inna, a Soviet-Jewish dissident and refusenik, was repeatedly denied a visa to receive life-saving cancer treatment abroad. The refusal was an apparent punishment imposed on both her and her Jewish husband, Naum, for his participation in the Moscow Helsinki Watch Groupthe lone group fighting for human rights in the U.S.S.R.
Before Lisa returned to the United States, she promised Inna she would do all she could to get her out of Moscow. But Lisa was one person, what could she possibly do that would make a difference Inspired by her faith and rights as an American, Lisa staged a hunger strike, held press conferences, and galvanized American politicians to demand Innas immediate release.
In this heartfelt, compassionate, and inspiring narrative, Lisa brings the reader along with her as she learns indelible lessons from her heroic teacher. Innas greatest lessonthat it is possible to swim through treacherous waters, in daylight, not in despairis as relevant today as it was during the final years of the Soviet regime. At a time when international strife seems insurmountable and worries at home seem to paralyze, this story will teach people everywhere that it is the courage inside, not the chaos outside, that defines us.

Reviews

"This book could not be more inspiring and needed for a contemporary audience whose memories of the Soviet Era are fading." Natan Sharansky

An inspiring memoir that captures a tumultuous period of history as well as the reliance of the human spirit, even against seemingly overwhelming odds. Booklist Review

A powerful memoir about hope, courage, and faith . . . The lessons of this book are urgently needed today.
Dr. Alan Mittleman, chair, Department of Jewish Thought, the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York

Lisa Pauls unusually sharp powers of recollection make this bleak period in modern history come alive. Jerusalem Post

A must read for those who want to know what life in the last days of Communist Russia was like. Nicholas Daniloff, former Moscow Bureau Chief, U.S. News and World Report
"This book could not be more inspiring and needed for a contemporary audience whose memories of the Soviet Era are fading." Natan Sharansky

An inspiring memoir that captures a tumultuous period of history as well as the reliance of the human spirit, even against seemingly overwhelming odds. Booklist Review

A powerful memoir about hope, courage, and faith . . . The lessons of this book are urgently needed today.
Dr. Alan Mittleman, chair, Department of Jewish Thought, the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York

Lisa Pauls unusually sharp powers of recollection make this bleak period in modern history come alive. Jerusalem Post

A must read for those who want to know what life in the last days of Communist Russia was like. Nicholas Daniloff, former Moscow Bureau Chief, U.S. News and World Report

Author Bio

Lisa C. Paul lived and worked in Moscow from 1983 to 1985. Shes also worked for a landmark conference on US-Soviet relations in Washington, DC, and later took a job at the American Committee on US-Soviet Relations until 1990. She is currently an attorney and lives with her husband and two daughters in Shorewood, Wisconsin.