Journey Through a Dark Forest, Vol IV - Ursula Hartlein

While the whole world is in the throes of one of the most concentrated periods of Sturm und Drang in recent memory, the Konevs and their friends far and wide struggle to survive and make their way back to some semblance of a peaceful, ordinary world.

In Part IV, The Good It Is Their Hap to Find, the Konevs and their friends struggle to come to terms with what they survived and try to become somewhat normal again. Darya, Oliivia, and their friends feel like a species from another planet after they arrive in America, and Darya feels betrayed when Osyenka begins dating Oliivia. She and Oliivia survived so much together, and survived for one another, because of one another. Now Osyenka is breaking up their happy quartet before Darya feels ready for them to live separate lives.

After the Zyuganovs become American citizens, they leave the congestion of Manhattan for the spacious, slower-paced Queens Village and Tottenville, Staten Island. Their newfound happiness contrasts with Darya’s return to Minnesota. Darya, once so eager to reunite with her family, quickly realizes she can’t talk about her wartime experiences with anyone who wasn’t there. She resolves to lie by omission or dance around the ugly truth.

Into this emotional whirlwind steps Darya’s old friend Andrey. In Darya’s eyes, Andrey is an unmanly coward for seeking and accepting a draft deferment to study psychology instead of getting into uniform. However, Darya’s blazing fury soon calms down, and she accepts Andrey’s offer of psychological counseling. Andrey truly wants to heal her wounded heart, soul, and mind, but he’s also falling in love with her.

Meanwhile, the remaining pieces of Lyuba’s long-ago dream begin coming true when Katya and Dmitriy unexpectedly renew their old acquaintance. As much as Katya tries to repel his flirtatious, extremely forward behavior, an increasing attraction to him builds, and they soon are involved in a passionate secret romance that crosses the point of no return. Their relationship is complicated not only by their parents’ longstanding enmity, but the one thing a respectable young woman like Katya lives in dread of.

Up in Toronto, Yuriy spends his first year back in civilian life locked in anguish over his unrequited love for Inga. Out of desperation, Yuriy invites her on his family’s annual summer holiday, with his eye on eventually confessing. Inga is shocked and flattered to finally learn the truth, but doesn’t think this can ever be more than a summer romance. But all that dramatically changes when one of the greatest scourges of this era is visited upon Inga.

And back in Minnesota, the happiness and relative peace of mind Darya has managed to find her way back to are threatened when her long-latent tuberculosis returns with a vengeance. Will the Konevs ever find their way out of this endless journey through a dark forest?