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ASYA by Michael Ignatieff

ASYA

by Michael Ignatieff

Pub Date: Oct. 4th, 1991
ISBN: 0-679-40657-3
Publisher: Knopf

A wonderfully enthralling first novel from writer-historian Ignatieff (The Russian Album, 1987, etc.)—unabashedly unpretentious but satisfyingly literate and informative. Asya is one of those remarkable women who somehow survive countless traumas with high spirits and innocence intact. Born in 1900 to a wealthy noble Russian family, Asya as a small child had tried to cross an ice-bound river. Just before she fell through the ice, she had seen a mysterious skater, all dressed in white, coming toward her through the mist. Her survival is thought to be miraculous, but the ``shock of the river had frozen something inside her and in the future there would be moments when her actions would rise from a dark and unknowable region of herself. That was the price she paid for crossing the river. What she won was fearlessness.'' And it is this lack of fear—this refusal to mourn the past or dig beneath the surface—that shapes Asya's life. Her parents die; she trains as a nurse; the Revolution begins; and, fleeing from the advancing Reds, she meets Sergei, the great love of her life. Safe in Paris, she bears Sergei's child, then soon acquires a job and a circle of helpful admirers. In 1924, Sergei turns up; they marry, prosper, but when the invading Germans force Asya to flee, she learns some unpleasant truths about her friends. Treachery is everywhere, yet Asya survives, and in a final visit to Moscow in 1990, in search of Sergei—a man of secrets as well—she finally accepts what she has denied for so many years. A sufficiently complex plot, memorable characters, dramatic events, and vivid and various settings, together with a heroine worthy of them all: one of those rare books that will delight all those who enjoy a good story well told. A reading feast.