Russia's Prophet In Exile ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN

A handwritten sign hangs beside the door of the Cavendish, Vt., general store: NO REST ROOMS. NO BARE FEET. NO DIRECTIONS TO THE SOLZHENITSYNS. An intriguing story can be read between these lines: not only the presence in this small (pop. 1,355) Vermont town of a world-renowned Russian author but also the determination of his adopted Yankee neighbors to protect his privacy.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn arrived in Cavendish with his wife Natalya and four sons in 1976, some 2 1/2 years after he had been charged with treason and forcibly exiled from the Soviet Union. Settling in at a 50-acre mountain retreat,...