Late in the Joseph Stalin era, a physics teacher, Dimitri Lopatkin, invents a machine that revolutionizes the centrifugal casting of pipes, then a difficult and time-consuming operation. A loyal communist, he believes his invention will help the Soviet economy, but it is rejected by bureaucrats. Lopatkin begins to work on his machine for the military, but he is soon arrested and accused of passing secrets to his lover, Nadia Drozdova, the estranged wife of one of the officials who opposes him. From "Love and Progress in Soviet Russia: A Stalin Era Story of Misplaced Loyalties" by Vladimir Dudintsev, now available on Kindle Vella.