<p>A book I recently read about the Armenian Genocide called The Sandcastle Girls was really good, although maybe a little heavy for a 15-year-old, especially as summer reading. I really liked both The Thorn Birds and Lonesome Dove, but they’re both long. Another favorite of mine is Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, about a missionary family in the Congo. My favorite book of all time set in Russia is Anna Karenina, but she may be on the young side for that. I read it when I was in graduate school. Another more recent book I just remembered that’s set in Russia during the Nazi siege of Leningrad is City of Thieves by David Benioff. </p>