From Communist to Capitalist

Born in Russia in the time of Stalin, growing up in the prime Soviet years, suffering during the corrupt early capitalist period of Glasnost and Yeltsin and finally finding her way to England, Mila Jones's From Communist to Capitalist is a fascinating look at two entirely different worlds. Veiled behind spy books and minus fifty-degree blizzards Communist Russia was always a place to be feared in the West. But in Mila's account we see hard work, ambition, education and love in exactly the same measure. Perhaps the most fascinating part of the book is the onset of capitalism with the Gorbachev years when all the fledgling entrepreneurs surfaced and inevitably some branched into crime. Moving from Russia to the UK was a precarious time for Mila and the fact that she achieved her wish is testament to her determination to succeed.