Vasily Grossman was born in 1905 into a Jewish family in Ukraine. Life and Fate, his masterpiece, was considered a threat to the totalitarian regime, and Grossman was told that there was no chance of the novel being published for another 200 years. He died in 1964. Robert and Elizabeth Chandler have together translated the works of Andrey Platonov and Everything Flows by Vasily Grossman. Robert is the translator of Grossman's Life and Fate and the author of Alexander Pushkin (Hesperus, 2009).

Part One - The 1930s: Introduction; In the Town of Berdichev; A Small Life; A Young Woman and an Old Woman. Part Two - The War, The Shoah: Introduction; The Old Man; The Old Teacher; The Hell of Treblinka; The Sistine Madonna. Part Three - Late Stories: Introduction; The Elk; Mama; Living Space; The Road; The Dog; In Kislovodsk. Part Four - Three Letters: Introduction; Letter 1950; Letter 1961. Part Five - Eternal Rest: Introduction; Eternal Rest. Appendices: Grossman and Treblinka; Natalya Khayutina and the Yezhovs; Afterword by Fyodor Guber; Chronology; Notes; Further Reading; Translator's acknowledgements; About the author; About the translators.