Russka
(Paperback, New edition)
By Rutherfurd, Edward
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- RRP: $22.99
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In this vast and gorgeous tapestry of a novel, serf and master, Cossack and tsar, priest and Jew are brought together in a family saga which unrolls through centuries of history to reveal that most impenetrable and mysterious of lands...Russia. Through the life of a little town e...ast of Moscow in the Russian heartland, Edward Rutherfurd creates a sweeping family saga from the baffling contradictions of Russia's culture and her people - bleak yet exotic, brutal but romantic, land of ritual yet riddled with superstitious fears. From Russia's dawn and the cruel Tartar invasions to Ivan the Terrible and the wild Cossacks, from Peter, Catherine and the days of 'War and Peace' to the drama of the Revolution and the extraordinary events of today - here is Russia's story in a spellbinding novel...history recreated with breathtaking detail and passion.
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| ISBN |
9780099635208 |
| Released AU |
1 May 1998 |
| Publisher |
Cornerstone |
| Format |
Paperback, New edition |
| Alternate Format(s) |
View All (3 other possible title(s) available)
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| Availability |
44 In-stock at publisher; ships 7-14 working days
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Full details for this title
| ISBN-13 |
9780099635208 |
|
| Stock |
Available |
| Status |
In-stock at publisher; ships 7-14 working days |
|
| Publisher |
Cornerstone |
| Imprint |
Arrow Books Ltd |
| Released |
1 May 1998
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| Publication Country |
 United Kingdom |
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| Format |
Paperback, New edition
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| Edition |
New edition |
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| Author(s) |
By Rutherfurd, Edward |
| Category |
Fiction
Historical Fiction
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| Number of Pages |
1024 |
| Dimensions |
Width: 110mm
Height: 178mm
Spine: 45mm |
| Dewey Code |
823.914 |
| Weight |
531g |
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Awards, Reviews & Star Ratings
| NZ Review |
Impressive . . . Rutherfurd has indeed embraced all of Russia. <br>-The Washington Post Book World <br><br> RUSSKA SUCCEEDS WHERE [OTHER BOOKS] OF TRENDY SOVIET-WATCHING HAVE FAILED. . . . Rutherfurd can take his place among an elite cadre of chroniclers such as Harold Lamb, Maurice Hindus and Henri Troyat. <br>- San Francisco Chronicle <br><br> FAST-MOVING . . . Rutherfurd believes in adding color and adventure to facts that are exhaustively researched, making history palatable if not delicious. <br> -Milwaukee Journal Sentinel<br><br> SPRAWLING . . . Rutherfurd's close observation of Russia's religious and ethnic diversity gives this epic a distinctive flavor. <br>- Publishers Weekly <br><br> RUTHERFURD LITERALLY PERSONIFIES HISTORY. <br>-New York Daily News |
| UK Review |
Another vast panorama of history from the author of Sarum, this one even more ambitious in that it seeks to tell the story of Russia, from AD 180 to 1990 through the eyes of its ordinary people, specifically those of one village, set in the Russian heartland. (Kirkus UK) |
| US Review |
A well-written, episodic, dense, at times infuriatingly complex historical saga of Russia by the author of the similarly massive Sarum, which tries - often quite successfully - to recreate the evolution of a mysterious and backward nation riddled with war, political confusion, and religious upheaval. Crammed with exhaustive and obviously well-researched historical, geographical, and cultural detail, this epic novel traces Russia's quest for freedom and identity from A.D. 180 to the present. The primary storyline that finally emerges depicts three rival families who have ties in the quintessential village of Russka: the Bobrovs, gentried noblemen who ultimately lose their precious land to the very serfs they once owned; the cunning Suvorins who amass great wealth as merchants and industrialists; and their distant relations the Romanovs, peasant farmers-cum-revolutionaries. Through the intricacies of marriage, accidents of birth, and other twists and turns of fate, the ancestors and descendants of these proud people move from one century to the next, turning up as warring Plans, barbarous Tatars, bloodthirsty Cossacks, and eventually the more familiar Socialists, Bolsheviks, and Marxists. Rutherfurd's immense canvas allows a fictional cast in the hundreds to populate the same world as Genghis Khan, Ivan the Terrible, Catherine the Great, Tolstoy, Voltaire, Pushkin, Lenin, Stalin, Shevchenko, Rasputin, etc., as they grapple with catastrophic events - such as ritual self-immolation, torture by knouting, cholera, and the pogroms. Despite the preponderance of names that repeat themselves from one generation to the next (the plot is littered with very old or very young Arinas and Maryushkas, for example) - a circumstance that may befuddle the casual reader - Rutherfurd's opus extraordinaire may captivate readers of the genre as well as serious history buffs. (Kirkus Reviews) |
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Author's Bio
Edward Rutherfurd was born in England, in the cathedral city of Salisbury. Educated locally, and at the universities of Cambridge, and Stanford, California, he worked in political research, bookselling and publishing. After numerous attempts to write books and plays, he finally abandoned his career in the book trade in 1983, and returned to his childhood home to write Sarum. Four years later, when the book was published, it became an instant international bestseller, remaining 23 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List. Since then he has written seven more bestsellers- Russka, a novel of Russia; London; The Forest, set in England's New Forest which lies close by Sarum; two novels which cover the story of Ireland from the time just before Saint Patrick to the twentieth century; New York; and Paris. His books have been translated into over twenty languages.
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