A Hand in the Darkness: The Autobiography of a Refusenik

Nudel's 16-year struggle to leave the Soviet Union is a moving personal story. A human rights activist, she publicized conditions in psychiatric hospitals and the plight of political prisoners, coordinated strategy with Andrei Sakharov and organized a protest against Anatoly Sharansky's arrest. A leader of the Jewish emigration movement, she was exiled to Siberia for four years after she hung a banner from her apartment balcony proclaiming ``KGB give me my visa to Israel.'' She endured strip-searches, imprisonment in a cell full of rats, temperatures 60 below zero. Transferred to a one-room hut, she raised chickens and grew her own vegetables. Deliverance came in 1986 when Armand Hammer flew her in his private plane to Israel, where she rejoined her family, who had escaped in 1972. Her courage and indomitable spirit shine through in this memoir. Photos. Author tour. (Nov.)