We the Living

We the Living is the first novel published by the Russian-American novelist Ayn Rand. First published in 1936, it is a story of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Rand observes in the foreword to this book that We the Living was the closest she would ever come to writing an autobiography. Her working title for the novel had been Airtight. We the Living was first completed in 1934, but, despite support from H.L. Mencken, who deemed it "a really excellent piece of work," it was rejected by several publishers until 1936.