Nocturne

Fülszöveg

(From the Notes of Lt. Amiran Amilakhvari, Retired)
BOUIATOKUDJAVA
In a crumbling wooden mansion on the edge of St. Petersburg, Myatlev, the melancholy prince of this intensely romantic story, drifts through his days, self-exiled from the Tsar's court, from the affairs of state appropriate to his rank, and from his rowdy former companions in the Horse Guards. The time is the 1840s. Tsar Nicholas I, whose reign began with an army uprising, now rules as an absolute autocrat, surrounded by courtiers and spies. When the Tsar beck-ons to the lovely baroness whom Myatlev madly desires, and she is—so to speak—preempted, the prince lapses into bitter resignation.
One dark and stormy day, Myatlev saves a young woman from the onrush-ing wheels of a runaway carriage. He brings her home, tends her, and falls in love. For a little while, the old house is alive with hope; new rooms are made ready for his lovely prize, Alexandrina;
(continued on back flap)
0678
(continued from front flap)... Tovább

Fülszöveg

(From the Notes of Lt. Amiran Amilakhvari, Retired)
BOUIATOKUDJAVA
In a crumbling wooden mansion on the edge of St. Petersburg, Myatlev, the melancholy prince of this intensely romantic story, drifts through his days, self-exiled from the Tsar's court, from the affairs of state appropriate to his rank, and from his rowdy former companions in the Horse Guards. The time is the 1840s. Tsar Nicholas I, whose reign began with an army uprising, now rules as an absolute autocrat, surrounded by courtiers and spies. When the Tsar beck-ons to the lovely baroness whom Myatlev madly desires, and she is—so to speak—preempted, the prince lapses into bitter resignation.
One dark and stormy day, Myatlev saves a young woman from the onrush-ing wheels of a runaway carriage. He brings her home, tends her, and falls in love. For a little while, the old house is alive with hope; new rooms are made ready for his lovely prize, Alexandrina;
(continued on back flap)
0678
(continued from front flap)
and Myatlev plans their future together. But Alexandrina is doomed, and she disappears, plunging Myatlev into renewed despair.
Thus, after he has sought forgetful-ness in a brief, tragic marriage with a woman of his own world, gray-eyed Lavinia finds him. They begin to meet in secret, and they keep on meeting, passionately, desperately, until Lavinia can no longer endure deceiving her husband. Her collapse jolts Myatlev into one grand, defiant gesture to guarantee their future happiness.
Hypnotic in its narrative flow, filled with fascinating characters, abductions and seductions, political intrigue, court balls, a duel, an irresistible heroine and a Hamlet-like hero who is finally provoked to extreme action, this long, rich novel evokes another time, another place;—an entire world in which to lose oneself. Its people are superbly rendered, and its resonance lingers in the mind.
Boulat Okudjava, known throughout Europe as a composer and singer of folk ballads, lives in Moscow He is at work on a new novel about Myatlev and his world.
Jacket design by Honi Werner Vissza