Once upon a time in the Soviet Union is a travel log of an epic journey undertaken by Dominique Lapierre and Jean-Pierre Pedrazzini in their V-twin Marley . In 1956 Dominique Lapierre obtained an unprecedented access to the Soviet Union authorized by non other than Nikita Khrushchev . Lapierre and Pedrazzini embarked on an epic journey with their spouses and covered 13,000 Kms of Soviet territory . The book documents the lives of ordinary Russians that Lapierre and his fellow travelers meet during the journey.