It’s 1983: Reagan is president and the Cold War has escalated to the point that a nuclear strike means mutually assured destruction. Russia has just raised tensions by shooting down a South Korean civilian airliner, killing everyone on board. Closer to home, a terrorist group dubbed the Squamish Five is making headlines with a series of bombing campaigns against local industry. Meanwhile, Jane Z., a bookish, socially awkward 19-year-old with an unpronounceable Polish last name, has come to Vancouver from a stripmalled Edmonton neighbourhood to attend the University of British Columbia as a Slavonic studies undergraduate. Read more…