From Sister Europe, which was published last month by Knopf.

Demian was among the first guests to arrive, taking a taxi. He had intended to get through the evening by being buzzed, though he managed only one glass of wine at home. He had to arrive early if he were to have a fighting chance of drinking two aperitifs before dinner without looking like a lush.

The hotel had been updated in the Seventies, but the original building was vintage 1958, and the décor suggested a more prosperous USSR, where El Lissitzky could work in gold leaf. The reception…