Book cover of A Mountain of Crumbs

Book description

Elena Gorokhova’s A Mountain of Crumbs is the moving story of a Soviet girl who discovers the truths adults are hiding from her and the lies her homeland lives by.

Elena’s country is no longer the majestic Russia of literature or the tsars, but a nation struggling to retain its…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked A Mountain of Crumbs as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

A Mountain of Crumbs is a memoir by Elena Gorokhovoa, a Russian girl, who grew up under the Soviet Union. Even though a religious ideology imposed more restrictions on women in Iran, I found Gorokhova’s vivid descriptions of her life and struggles similar to mine. It reminded me that authoritarian regimes are all similar in nature: controlling and overbearing. They nurture a controlling culture too. People, unknowingly, become a mirror image of the regime, just like Gorokhova’s mother. 

If you love A Mountain of Crumbs...

Ad

Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

Want books like A Mountain of Crumbs?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like A Mountain of Crumbs.

Browse books like A Mountain of Crumbs

Book cover of Catherine the Great
Book cover of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Book cover of Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,278

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like A Mountain of Crumbs, you might also like...

Book cover of The Bridge: Connecting The Powers of Linear and Circular Thinking

The Bridge by Kim Hudson,

The Bridge provides a compassionate and well researched window into the worlds of linear and circular thinking. A core pattern to the inner workings of these two thinking styles is revealed, and most importantly, insight into how to cross the distance between them. Some fascinating features emerged such as, circular…

Book cover of And Then They Were Gone: Teenagers of Peoples Temple from High School to Jonestown

And Then They Were Gone by Ron Cabral,

Of the 918 Americans who died in the shocking murder-suicides of November 18, 1978, in the tiny South American country of Guyana, a third were under eighteen. More than half were in their twenties or younger.

The authors taught in a small high school in San Francisco where Reverend Jim…

5 book lists we think you will like!