Russian Winter
Daphne Kalotay, Harper, $25.99 (480p) ISBN 978-0-06-196216-5
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. (Sept.)
Details
Reviewed on: 07/05/2010
Genre: Fiction
Downloadable Audio - 978-0-06-206236-9
Downloadable Audio - 978-0-06-201237-1
Open Ebook - 560 pages - 978-1-4434-0431-0
Open Ebook - 480 pages - 978-1-4481-3551-6
Paperback - 496 pages - 978-0-06-196217-2
Paperback - 466 pages - 978-0-09-954739-6
Paperback - 466 pages - 978-0-09-955324-3
Paperback - 682 pages - 978-0-06-200242-6