During a visit to the United States last year to undergo multiple bypass surgery, Bonner wrote Alone Together (Alfred A. Knopf, 1986), an account of the past three years of her life in exile with her husband (The Scientist, November 17, 1986, p. 14). In concluding the book, she seemed al most to anticipate her forthcoming release just five days before Christmas:
"Since time immemorial the genre of the Christmas tale has existed in Russia.... Yes, I have most of the ingredients for a Christmas tale. Now all I need is the happy ending, but I can't make one up.
...But where do I get a happy ending? Maybe it's in the fact that Andryusha and I remain together. And in the fact that there, beyond the border which separates us from the world and from all of you, dear family and friends, we are still free to be ourselves.
...
