“Daniel Jaffe takes us on a series of missions behind the Iron Curtain to connect with Jews trapped in the Soviet Union in the days before glasnost and perestroika. His recollections from the 1970s and ’80s are rich in detail and crackling with tension. He combines family sagas with political intrigue, exploring the damage caused to himself and others by anti-Jewish persecution and anti-gay sentiment, both overt and covert. The result is a real-life spy thriller wrapped in an intimately personal memoir.”

—Wayne Hoffman, author of The End of Her: Racing Against Alzheimer’s to Solve a Murder

“Once I started reading Russian Silhouette, I didn't want to put it down. It's a page-turner that will break open your heart to the complex world of secrecy and persecution behind the Iron Curtain. Author Daniel M. Jaffe’s memoir is a veritable time-travel guided by a human rights activist whose own identity propels him to deep understanding and advocacy despite the risks."

—Annette H. Levine, Professor, Latin American Literature and Jewish Studies, Ithaca College; co-editor of Landscapes of Memory and Impunity in Jewish Argentina

“This memoir transforms a Soviet-era life into a deeply felt meditation on courage, concealment, and connection, rendered with striking historical clarity and emotional precision. Through encounters with dissidents, refuseniks, and the quiet tensions of everyday survival, it reveals not only a world on the brink of change, but the intimate costs of repression and the fragile emergence of self-recognition. As both a reader and an author attentive to the architecture of meaningful storytelling, I was struck by the discipline and restraint behind its voice: never overstated, yet profoundly affecting. This is a work that lingers, reminding us that the moral questions of the past are not settled, they are inherited. The future, in many ways, will require books like this.”

—Dr. Karine Rashkovsky, author of An Improbable Life: My Father’s Escape from Soviet Russia

“In this richly compelling memoir, Daniel Jaffe recounts his passionate determination to help Soviet Jews survive the oppression and persecution they faced and how this commitment helped shape his life as a gay man in the U.S. Through the stories Jaffe tells, the friendships he formed, and the successes he achieved, the book is an inspirational call to fight for justice.”

—John D’Emilio, author of Making Gay History: Memoir of a Scholar-Activist

A. Pre-Publication:

1. Prepared Tip Sheet and Sales Sheet (Press Release).

2. Prepared publisher and author websites.

3. Solicited blurbs from experts in human rights activism, Soviet-Jewish experience, gay history/literature.

4. Submit for review to major industry venues: Publishers’ Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal, Book List, ForeWord.

5. Submit for review to various newspapers that accept pre-publication ARCs.

6. Submit to various contests, especially the JBC-sponsored contests and LGBTQ contests.

7. Ongoing: participate in the Jewish Book Council (JBC) Network: the author made a presentation at the JBC Network’s annual conference (May) to over 200 Jewish author-sponsoring venues. Over the summer and throughout the next year, various Jewish book festivals, Jewish community centers, synagogues, etc. will invite JBC authors to make in-person/virtual presentations. They will also select books to sell at their local venues. Throughout the next year, the JBC will actively promote Russian Silhouette to 35,000 newsletter subscribers.

8. The author made a test presentation of Russian Silhouette to a Jewish community in Palm Springs—the community’s newsletter said the author held them all “spellbound”.

9. Approach various general book festivals about speaking/reading at their festivals in winter/spring 2027.

10. Explore possibility of an autumn reading in author’s hometown of Santa Barbara.

11. Contact a central, British community center about the possiblity of doing an online event.

B. Post-Publication:

1. Promote repeatedly on Facebook, especially to Jewish groups, gay groups, literary groups.

2. Continue submitting to contests throughout the rest of 2026.

3. Submit for review to various newspapers and Jewish book reviewers, in particular.

4. Make presentations through JBC.

5. Approach Jewish book blogs.

6. Approach podcast interviewers.