Russian Winter (2010) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Characters/People edit see section history

• Nina Revskaya, "the Butterfly": One-time star of the Soviet Bolshoi Ballet. She defected to the West in 1952 and became an affiliate of the Boston Ballet. She is now retired, and 75+ years old.
• Drew Brooks: Associate director of fine jewelry at Beller, an auction house. 24 years old.
• Mother: Nina's mother, a kind and compassionate woman.
• Vera Borodina,"Verochka": Nina's best friend from childhood, also a Bolshoi ballerina.
• Cynthia: Nina's amiable caregiver from the West Indies.
• Grigori Solodin: Professor of Russian, and chair of the Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literature at the University. 50 years old.
• Evelyn Bennett: Grigori's colleague and friend at the University.
• Carla: Secretary at the Department of Foreign Languages at the university where Grigori teaches.
• Zoltan Romhanyi: Grigori Solodin's colleague at the university and his best friend. Hungarian poet emigré, 70+ years old.
• Tama: Nina's Boston friend; a Russian born journalist.
• Shepley: Nina's friend in Boston; a young attorney.
• Lenore: Drew's boss at Beller
• Jen: Drew's best friend
• Eric: Drew's ex-husband
• Christine: Deceased wife of Grigori Solodin; his soulmate and advocate.
• June Hennessey: News 4 New England entertainment reporter
• Polina: Bolshoi ballerina, and a colleague of Nina. Socializes with Party members.
• Lida Markova: Director of the Soviet State Archive for Literature and Art. A Party Member
• Viktor Alekseyevich Elsin: Soviet Russian poet who becomes Nina's husband.
• Vladimir Frolov: A Soviet dignitary from the Society for the Dissemination of Political Knowledge. Friend of Victor.
• Feodor: Grigori's foster father; a Russian research scientist who defected to the West and brought his wife and foster son with him.
• Katya: Wife of Feodor and Grigori's foster mother. A Russian scientist.
• Lilya: A woman who Nina saw in the company of Victor Elsin. A former girlfriend.
• Aron Simonovich Gershstein, aka "Gersh": Composer and professor at the Moscow Conservatory. A Soviet Jew, and Victor's closest friend.
• Zoya: Gersh's girlfriend, and later his wife. A Party member, Zoya works for the lecture bureau of the Moscow City Education Department. She loves Gersh.
• Madame Ekaterina Petrovna Elsin: Victor's invalid mother.
• Lola: Madame's parrot
• Grandma Riitta: Drew's Finnish grandmother
• Darya: Nina and Victor's housemaid; long suffering caregiver for Madame.
• Serge: Polina's friend. A Party member.
• Anton Samoilov: A Russian jewelmaker
• Anna Yakov: Archivist of the Minnesota Russian Society.
• Maria: Obstretrics nurse
• Stephen: A friend of Drew, who hopes for more than a platonic relationship.
• Osmi Anannya: The book is absolutely amazing ! It wonderfully depicts the Stalin regime and the lives of the Russian people of the time. The book is also about how a famous Bolshoi Ballet dancer's past takes life in modern times despite Nina Revskaya, the protagonist in the book, trying very hard to conceal it, for most of her life.
• Lydia: Add a description of this character.
• Yuri: Premier danseur of the Bolshoi.
• Kate
• Kitri

Quotes edit see section history

• “No, solitude did not trouble her. She could spend long minutes gazing out the window, hours listening to the BBC on the public radio station. She relished the very texture of her privacy, its depth of space and freedom, much of a day hers alone.”

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• But it was also true that the internal world was an expansive one, always growing, full of possibilities that the real one did not necessarily offer.

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• She relished the very texture of her privacy, its depth of space and freedom, much of an entire day hers alone.

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• experience—discovering one’s hidden self through love for another.

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• She senses, for the first time, how far away one can be from one’s own life, how contentedly distant. The gaping enormity of the universe, its endless possibility…She feels it, an aura, an inkling: the illusion of absolute freedom.

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• Grigori thought of how this country, one that offered a fresh start to all who washed up on its shores, had somehow diminished not just Zoltan but Grigori’s parents, too—in a way that the other countries along their trajectories had not. Lessened their authority, muted their brilliance; fine qualities of the mind simply were not as appreciated in this home of the brave.

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• But isn’t it funny, that in some ways the price one pays for freedom of speech is…a kind of indifference.”

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• “That’s why love too is dangerous. We stand up for love. We take risks. Well, you of all people know about that—your own Soviet Russia, an entire nation rearranged to discourage love for anything other than one’s country.” Because love caused people to think for themselves, to look out for themselves and their loved ones. Nodding, Grigori said, “Love makes people strong, we do all kinds of crazy things for love.”

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• It was the comfort of knowing that she was not quite so strange, that there were other people who found delight in private challenges and quiet lives. People who lived in their thoughts as much as in the real, physical world. It was a reminder that true dedication to one’s work, to one’s art, was in fact—no matter how quiet or minor it might seem—a show of faith, a commitment to life.

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• looked at the people around her and felt not just that she was surrounded by strangers, but that she herself was strange, somehow, that something kept her from ever fully bridging the gap between who she was and who all these other people, making their way through the very same day, were.

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• Bolshoi…A mother’s life, one long errand. One enormous chore.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Boston
• Moscow
• Russia
• London
• Paris
• Norway
• Leningrad (Soviet St. Petersburg): Where Vera was sent with her grandmother. Home of the Kirov Ballet.
• Berlin
• France
• New York
• Kremlin
• St. Botolph

Organizations edit see section history

• Bolshoi Ballet: Internationally renowned classical ballet company based in Moscow, Russia.
• Kirov Ballet: Renowned classical ballet company based in St. Petersburg, Russia.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Daphne Kalotay (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3611.A455R87 2010
• Dewey: 813.6

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary