Russian Winter
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- £0.99
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- £0.99
Publisher Description
Praise for Russian Winter
'An elegant, compelling puzzle of family, memory and solitude that brings to life modern day Boston and postwar Russia through a profound love story. Graceful, moving and unexpected' - Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante Club
'A tender and moving debut novel' - Candis Magazine
'An impressive debut: intelligent, moving, and flitting easily between the artistic salons of Soviet Russia and the Boston of today' - Guardian
'A memorable love story cleverly disguised as historical fiction' - Red Magazine
'Part romance, part mystery, this elegant debut captures the danger - and refuge - of love in Stalin's era' - Good Housekeeping
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kalotay makes a powerful debut with a novel about a Soviet-era prima ballerina, now retired and living in Boston, who confronts her past as she puts up for auction the jewelry she took with her when she left her husband and defected. Nina "The Butterfly" Revskaya, 79, reveals little about the past to curious auction house representative Drew Brooks as he peruses her cache of exquisite jewelry. Nina likewise rebuffs inquiries from foreign language professor Grigori Solodin, who has translated the works of Nina's poet husband and who offers an additional item for auction: the amber necklace he inherited from the parents he never knew. In extended flashbacks, Nina recalls intimate moments and misunderstandings with her husband, happy and disturbing times with his Jewish composer best friend, and encounters with her own childhood friend. Meanwhile, Drew and Grigori delve into the jewelry's provenance, hoping to learn as much about the jewels as their own pasts. While the Soviet-era romance can lean too much on melodrama, Kalotay turns out a mostly entrancing story thanks to a skillful depiction of artistic life behind the Iron Curtain and intriguing glimpses into auction house operations.
