This book is about famous Russian women emigrants who managed to achieve success abroad. Olga Khokhlova-Picasso, Elsa Triolet, Sonja Delaunay… Their names were crossed out from our life and from our culture. We also know almost nothing about the reign and romantic fate of the Queen of France, Anne Yaroslavna, daughter of Yaroslav the Wise. To give up the crown for love—probably only Russian women could do that. Our children were not raised on stories by the famous French writer, Countess de Ségur, née Rostopchina. We didn’t have the opportunity to admire ballets where the divine Olga Spesivtseva danced, and we didn’t see films featuring the extravagant Alla Nazimova. But behind each of these successes there are their own small tragedies. Different women, different destinies. What unites them—above all—is Russia.
The mysterious Russian soul that people talk about so much in the world, without understanding what lies behind it.