The Russian Countess - Hardcover

Sollohub, Edith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0955623952 ISBN 13: 9780955623950

Publisher: Central Books, 2009

Synopsis

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1.) Father -- 2.) Travels -- 3.) Petersburg -- 4.) Waldensee -- 5.) Marriage -- 6.) Louisino -- 7.) Kamenka -- 8.) Wartime -- 9.) The Revolution Comes -- 10.) Revolution -- 11.) Separation -- 12.) Alone in Petrograd -- 13.) Goodbye to the Past -- 14.) Imprisonment -- 15.) Release -- 16.) Leaving Moscow -- 17.) Mogilev -- 18.) The Military Train -- 19.) Baranowiczi -- 20.) Wolkowysk -- 21.) Escape -- 22.) Reunion. . . . . . . . . . . Countess Edith Sollohub, born Edith Natalie de Martens, was well known in pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg for accompanying her husband Alexander on shooting and riding trips and for being outstandingly accurate with her gun. She was the daughter of a high-ranking Russian diplomat, and the mother of three young sons, destined to join the social and intellectual elite of imperial Russia. The Revolution of 1917 changed the course of these lives.

About this title

About the Author

Edith Sollohub taught herself to type in order to support herself and her sons in their one-room apartment in Paris. She typed some of her account of her life in Russia in snatched moments, and added to these in later life. The manuscript of The Russian Countess was left to her youngest son and daughter-in-law after her death in 1965, who lovingly deciphered the handwritten notes, edited the text and unearthed photographs to ensure that her wish - that her memoirs might one day be published - be fulfilled.

Review

`A classic of the last years of the tsars that's essential reading on the regime of tsars and nobles in old Russia. Charming, touching, tragic and thrilling, this is a superb memoir from the doomed but decadent and elegant world of aristocracy and tsardom soon to be shipwrecked' (Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The Romanovs) Fascinating and beautifully written... Her book is a revelation, and one of the great memoirs from that era... (Antony Beevor, The Sunday Times ) A moving and thrilling story, The Russian Countess describes a world descending into chaos during war and revolution a century ago. An epic tale of hope tinged with sadness and suffering, it will keep you gripped until the final page (Peter Frankopan, author of Silk Roads ) Her narrative attains spiritual depth... she had the ability to write vividly and with understanding about all the many people, from very different walks of life, whom she encountered during her journey through post-revolutionary Russia (Robert Chandler, British poet and literary translator) I inhaled it. With echoes of Bunin, Sollohub captures the strange mixture of beauty and terror that was Russia in the first decades of the last century. An iridescent jewel of a book. (Douglas Smith, author of Rasputin and Former People: The Last Days of the Russian Aristocracy ) An epic and evocative tale of courage and endurance. Edith Sollohub takes us from her privileged life in tsarist Russia through the terror and turmoil of revolution, war, separation from family, imprisonment and a final desperate flight to freedom. (Helen Rappaport, author of Caught in the Revolution and Victoria Letters ) Distinguished by sharp observation and a strong memory for visual detail (Barbara Heldt, The Times Literary Supplement )

Edition details

• Publisher: Central Books
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0955623952
• ISBN 13: 9780955623950
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 282