Coming this fall is a memoir by Boston College alumnus Lev Golinkin titled A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka (Doubleday, 2014). Golinkin writes about his Jewish family fleeing the Soviet Union in the waning years of the Cold War, with only the vague promise of help awaiting in Vienna. Years later, Golinkin would return to Austria and Eastern Europe to track down the strangers who made his escape possible and say thank you. According to a review in Publishers Weekly, “Golinkin has created a deeply moving account of fear and hope.”