Siberians

More piercing than “Gone with the Wind”!

Siberia, the twenties—the most contradictory decades of Russian history. On one side— the village council, Soviet power. On the other— “respectable society,” rigidly observing the ways of fathers and grandfathers. An entire big family of Anfisa is as wild as the crazy spirit of the era: the mistress values prosperity and status so that the house is a full cup—for everyone’s envy, and her beloved son is a representative of power, and he has different values. Anfisa’s iron hand barely manages to keep order, but the news that Stepan has chosen a bride for himself— and even “a poor, broken-down girl, wretched and hopeless”—cuts the mother like a knife in the heart. What else will happen…

Daughters and mothers, mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law… Brothers and sisters… Sincere feelings, stormy relationships, fiery tempers. What fates did the chaotic century prepare for Siberians? That’s what the first novel of Natalia Nesterova’s trilogy, “The Lot of the Righteous Sinners,” is about.