Review - Russian Winter - Daphne Kalotay

Look at that gorgeous cover!

The blurb

When Nina Revskaya, once a great star of the Bolshoi Ballet, decides to auction her jewellery collection, she believes she has finally drawn a curtain on her past.  Instead she is overwhelmed by memories of her life a half-century before.

It was  in Russia that she fell in love - and where, spurred by Stalinist aggression, a terrible discover led to a deadly act of betrayal.

Now living in Boston, Nina has kept her secrets for half a lifetime.  But two people will not let the past rest: Drew Brookes, an inquisitive young associate at the auction house; and Grigori Solodin, a professor who believes the jewels may hold the key to his past.  Together these unlikely partners unravel a literary mystery whose answers hold life-altering consequences for them all.

Oh, wow!  This is a stunning debut from Daphne Kalotay and is going to the top of my Best Reads for 2012!

The novel moves back and forth between modern day Boston and post World War 2 Russia.

The story centres around 3 main characters...

Nina - a principal dance with post war Bolshoi Ballet.  As graceful in her mind in her frail 80's as she was on stage all those years ago, she decides to auction her collection of precious jewellery to benefit others.  As the attention from the media focuses on this collection saved as Nina fled Russia, there are deep secrets from the past that are about to surface.

Grigori - professor, widow and owner of a precious piece of the collection that is about to be auctioned.  He decides to donate this piece of his history in the hope he will find answers to his questions about his past.

Drew - associate of the auction house.  She gets caught up in the story behind this collection and wants to know more about the jewellery and the people involved.

This novel was an absolute pleasure to read.  I fell in love with the characters and just had to know about the past.  The author's writing was a elegant and graceful as the ballet, and the suspense was a real page turner. 

I really enjoyed the way the author gave me another little piece of the jigsaw in either the past or present to then quickly change back to the other timeframe.

I thought I have the past all wrapped up but still wanted to carry on reading to find out with the characters how that came to be, only to find a bittersweet twist I just wasn't expecting.

5 out of 5 for me!

review copy