Sashenka
by Simon
Montefiore
Russian History
and Stalin's Terror through the eyes of family
Publisher: Simon
& Schuster (November 2008)
In 1916 St. Petersburg, a governess affectionately called Lala picks up
Sashenka from the Smolny Institute for Noble Girls. As she completes
her last class before the winter break, Sewing for the Tsar and the
Motherland, Russia itself is poised on the edge of a revolution that
will overturn the old way of life and Sashenka's life for decades to
come. Spurred on by adolescent rebellion against the ways of the
nobility's decadence (and indeed the lifestyle she sees within her own
family) in a world mired in relentless poverty, Sashenka turns to her
uncle Mendel. Through his influence, an influence that awakens her
heart for literature and idealism, Sashenka becomes a loyal convert to
the Bolshevik cause. For many years, Sashenka leads the life of the
perfect revolutionary. Married to a rising star within the Party, her
dedication to the cause has brought her recognition as well as material
comforts for her family, including her two children. While her friends
and family disappear, she herself feels safe from the political turmoil
around her until she embarks on a love affair that will put everything
and everyone around her at risk. Decades later, a historian delves into
Stalin's archives trying to track down the scattered family. Hesitant
to even accept the position, Katinka Vinsky finds herself drawn more
and more intensely into a hunt to resurrect the missing pieces of
Sashenka's life. Katinka's discoveries lead to a tale of betrayal,
strange alliances, and a great passion filled with courage in the most
harrowing moments, moments hidden within history that define Sashenka's
life and that of her family.
In SASHENKA, Russian historian Simon Montefiore tells the intimate
story of the one family through the history of the Russian Revolution
and Stalin's Terror. Historical figures such as Rasputin and Stalin
intertwine in moments of the the lives of Shashenka and her family, but
SASHENKA is a work of historical fiction that centers on the figure of
the fictional Sashenka and the themes of family, passion and courage.
Although the reader feels the underlying depth of the author's
historical research in the backdrop of the story, the author turns to
historical fiction to pen a look at ordinary people, particularly women
and children, caught up in this tragic time of Russian history. The
author himself intends to reach an audience of readers who may not read
history books like scholars but rather readers who, through imagination
and fiction, wish to explore the period through the ordinary people
living in these times with courage and endurance as families. In this
aim, Simon Montefiore succeeds in crafting a story that draws the
reader into the time period through the lens of family and love. For
those who leave the story anxious to learn more about this period, the
author provides several references for exploration at the back of the
book.
Simon Montefiore captures the feel of the Russian epic novel tradition
by focusing on particular moments in Russian history and Sashenka's
life: 1916 St. Petersburg highlighting the pre-revolution and first
stages of the 1917 Russian Revolution, 1939 Moscow with Stalin at the
height of power, and 1994 with the historian's research through the
opened Russian archives. Simon Montefiore focuses on Sashenka as the
young adolescent revolutionary idealist, Sashenka the established
Bolshevik but also a mother and woman who loves passionately, and
finally the archival records of Sashenka's life alongside the secrets
and hints of family that allow the historian to uncover the Sashenka
that lives behind the written record. Together these three parts add up
to create a story that provides a chilling tale of Stalin's Terror, the
religio-military dedication of the Bolsheviks as well as the
personalized idiosyncratic twists and intersections of personal actions
with unintended consequences. The effects of politics on the Russian
family, as seen in the orphanage and in Sashenka's own family, are
heartbreaking in the devastation caused to generations of families and
for the immense courage within some of the families in their attempts
to survive. Simon Montefiore does an excellent job at making the reader
feel the changes within Sashenka as she moves from being a teen who
questions the world around her, to a dedicated unquestioning Bolshevik
who puts politics above all, to a woman whose heart grows as she
becomes a mother and lover. The novel reaches a new height in the third
and final part when the hunt to uncover Sashenka builds the intrigue
and emotion. The reader becomes more personally invested in the outcome
of the search right alongside Katinka. As the novel draws to an end
with a intricate intersection of archival records and oral stories,
SASHENKA demonstrates the power of historical fiction to make history
both personal and alive in his portrayal of the intimate desires,
thoughts and longings of fictional characters in this moment of Russian
history.
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