Alexandra Tolstoy's Books

Tolstoy's False Disciple

By: Alexandra Popoff

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On the snowy morning of February 8, 1897, the Petersburg secret police were following Tolstoy's every move, and he was always in the company of a man named Certkov. At sixty-nine, Russia's most celebrated writer was being treated like a major criminal, and had abandoned his literary pursuits and become a spiritual mystic, angering the Orthodox church and earning both the admination and ire of his countrymen. Tolstoy was recognizable enough, with his peasant garb and beard, but who was the man who towered over Tolstoy, twenty years younger, with a cold, impenetrable look on his face?This man, Chertkov, was a relative to the Tsars and nephew to the chief of the secret police and represented the very things Tolstoy had renounced—class privilege, unlimited power, and wealth—and yet Chertkov fascinated and attracted Tolstoy. He would become the writer's closest confidant, reading even his diary, and at the end of Tolstoy's life, Chertkov had him in his complete control, preventing him from even seeing his own wife on his deathbed.

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297

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1605987271

ISBN 13

9781605987279

The Wives

By: Alexandra Popoff

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The Wives

By: Alexandra Popoff

Many readers may know that such writers as F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce and D.H. Lawrence used their marriages for literary inspiration and material. In Russian literary marriages, these women did not resent taking a secondary position, although to call their position secondary does not do justice to the vital role these women played in the creation of some of the greatest literary works in history. From Sofia Tolstoy to Vera Nabokov and Elena Mandelshtam and Natalya Solzhenitsyn, these women ranged from stenographers and typists to editors, researchers, translators, and even publishers. Living under restrictive regimes, many of these women battled censorship and preserved the writers’ illicit archives, often risking their own lives to do so. They established a tradition all their own, unmatched in the West. Many of these women, like Vera and Sofia, were the writers’ intellectual companions and willingly contributed to the creative process—they commonly used the word “we” to describe the progress of their husbands’ work. And their husbands knew it too. Leo Tolstoy made no secret of Sofia’s involvement in War and Peace, and Vladimir Nabokov referred to Vera as his own “single shadow.”

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200

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Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1639361324

ISBN 13

9781639361328

Sophia Tolstoy

A Biography

By: Alexandra Popoff

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Sophia Tolstoy

A Biography

By: Alexandra Popoff

As Leo Tolstoy’s wife, Sophia Tolstoy experienced both glory and condemnation during their forty-eight-year marriage. She was admired as the muse and literary assistant to one of the world’s most celebrated novelists. But when in later years Tolstoy became a towering public figure and founded a new brand of religion, she was scorned for her disagreements with him. And it is this version of Sophia—malicious, shrill, perennially at war with Tolstoy—that has gone down in the historical record. Drawing on newly available archival material, including Sophia’s unpublished memoir, Alexandra Popoff presents a dramatically different and accurate portrait of the woman and the marriage. This lively, well-researched biography demonstrates that, contrary to popular belief, Sophia was remarkably supportive of Tolstoy and was, in fact, key to his fame. Gifted and versatile, Sophia assisted Tolstoy during the writing of War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Having modeled his most memorable female characters on her, Tolstoy admired his wife’s boundless energy, which he called “the force of life.” Sophia’s letters, never before translated, illuminate the couple’s true relationship and provide insights into Tolstoy’s creative laboratory. Although long portrayed as an elitist and hysterical countess, Sophia was in reality a practical, independent-minded, generous, and talented woman who shared Tolstoy’s important values and his capacity for work. Mother of thirteen, she participated in Tolstoy’s causes and managed all business a airs. Popoff describes in haunting detail the intrusion into their marriage by Tolstoy’s religious disciple Vladimir Chertkov, who controlled Tolstoy at the end of his life and led a smear campaign against Sophia, branding her evil and mad. She is still judged by Chertkov’s false accounts, which dismissed her valuable achievements and contributions. During his later religious phase, Tolstoy renounced his property and copyright, and Sophia had to become the breadwinner. She published Tolstoy’s collected works and supported their large family. Despite the pressures of her demanding life, she realized her own talents as a writer, photographer, translator, and aspiring artist. This vigorous, engrossing biography presents in fascinating depth and detail the many ways in which Sophia Tolstoy enriched the life and work of one of the world’s most revered authors.

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Page Count

370

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1416559906

ISBN 13

9781416559900

The Hidden Writer

By: Alexandra Johnson

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The Hidden Writer

By: Alexandra Johnson

Whom do I tell when I tell a blank page?" Virginia Woolf's question is one that generations of readers and writers searching to map a creative life have asked of their own diaries. No other document quite compares with the intimacies and yearnings, the confessions and desires, revealed in the pages of a diary. Presenting seven portraits of literary and creative lives, Alexandra Johnson illuminates the secret world of writers and their diaries, and shows how over generations these writers have used the diary to solve a common set of creative and life questions. In Sonya Tolstoy's diary, we witness the conflict between love and vocation; in Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf's friendship, the nettle of rivalry among writing equals is revealed; and in Alice James's diary, begun at age forty, the feelings of competition within a creative family are explored. The Hidden Writer shows how the diaries of Marjory Fleming, Sonya Tolstoy, Alice James, Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf, Anaïs Nin, and May Sarton negotiated the obstacle course of silence, ambition, envy, and fame. Destined to become a classic on writing and the diary as literary form, this is an essential book for anyone interested in the evolution of creative life.

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290

Publisher

Anchor

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307755983

ISBN 13

9780307755988

Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century

By: Alexandra Popoff

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Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century

By: Alexandra Popoff

The definitive biography of Soviet Jewish dissident writer Vasily Grossman If Vasily Grossman’s 1961 masterpiece, Life and Fate, had been published during his lifetime, it would have reached the world together with Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago and before Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag. But Life and Fate was seized by the KGB. When it emerged posthumously, decades later, it was recognized as the War and Peace of the twentieth century. Always at the epicenter of events, Grossman (1905–1964) was among the first to describe the Holocaust and the Ukrainian famine. His 1944 article “The Hell of Treblinka” became evidence at Nuremberg. Grossman’s powerful anti-totalitarian works liken the Nazis’ crimes against humanity with those of Stalin. His compassionate prose has the everlasting quality of great art. Because Grossman’s major works appeared after much delay we are only now able to examine them properly. Alexandra Popoff’s authoritative biography illuminates Grossman’s life and legacy.

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Page Count

424

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300245300

ISBN 13

9780300245301

Sophia Tolstoy

A Biography

By: Alexandra Popoff

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Sophia Tolstoy

A Biography

By: Alexandra Popoff

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370

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Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1416559906

ISBN 13

9781416559900

The Final Struggle

Countess Tolstóy's Diary for 1910

By: Countess Alexandra Tolstoy

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The Final Struggle

Countess Tolstóy's Diary for 1910

By: Countess Alexandra Tolstoy

Harmony was not the leitmotif of the Tolstoys's marriage. In wedlock for forty-eight years, some of them happy, many of them turbulent, the couple had reached the nadir of mutual exasperation in 1910, the final year of Tolstoy's life. No biography could illustrate this more graphically than these diaries for that fateful year. In addition to the Countess's own diary and day book, salient extracts are also reproduced from not only from Leo Tolstoy's diary but his private diary (For Myself Alone) as well. There is more. It seems that almost everyone in the household had a sense of history and was recording their own observations of the domestic disintegration. The extensive footnotes quote liberally from, among others, Valentin Bulgakov (Tolstoy's secretary), Alexander Goldenweiser (pianist and close friend of Tolstoy), Vladimir Chertkov (Tolstoy's leading disciple, executor of his will, and the most controversial person in the book - the Countess's bête noire) and the eldest son, Sergey Tolstoy. The end is well-known: Tolstoy finally flees the family estate, Yasnaya Polyana, only to die shortly afterwards in the station-master's house at Astapovo. 'Never, never marry, my dear fellow! That's my advice: never marry till you can say to yourself that you have done all you are capable of, and until you have ceased to love the woman of your choice and have seen her plainly as she is, or else you will make a cruel an irrevocable mistake.' So says Prince Andrew to Pierre in War and Peace, but it could be the epigraph for this book. By all means see the film, The Last Station, but read this book as well.

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Page Count

410

Publisher

Faber & Faber

Published Date

ISBN 10

057126042X

ISBN 13

9780571260423

Tolstoy's False Disciple

By: Alexandra Popoff

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Tolstoy's False Disciple

By: Alexandra Popoff

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297

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Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1605987271

ISBN 13

9781605987279

The Last Secrets of the Silk Road

In the Footsteps of Marco Polo by Horse and Camel

By: Countess Alexandra Tolstoy

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The Last Secrets of the Silk Road

In the Footsteps of Marco Polo by Horse and Camel

By: Countess Alexandra Tolstoy

Four young Englishwomen retrace the ancient Silk Road--4,500 miles in eight months by horse and camel.

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Page Count

240

Publisher

Lyons Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1592282016

ISBN 13

9781592282012

The Art of the Possible

By: Alexandra Stoddard

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The Art of the Possible

By: Alexandra Stoddard

As a speaker, author, and world-famous interior designer, Alexandra Stoddard was the first to show millions of of people how to turn the place they live in into an oasis of tranquility, beauty, and joy. Beginning with her bestselling Living A Beautiful Life, and followed by other highly successful books, she demonstrates the magic that transforms living space, from cottages to mansions, not into showrooms, but into homes that reflect the comfort and joy of those who live there. Now in The Art of the Possible she adds wise words to the dream of creating a perfectly beautiful home, reminding all those who seek beauty to overcome the confines of perfectionism in favor of freedom that allows creativity to flourish.

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Page Count

274

Publisher

Harper Collins

Published Date

ISBN 10

0062285289

ISBN 13

9780062285287

White Gardenia

By: Belinda Alexandra

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White Gardenia

By: Belinda Alexandra

The beloved debut novel from one of Australia's foremost storytellers. Epic and passionate, White Gardenia will sweep you away ... 'Mama, Mama,' I said to myself, 'keep safe. You will survive, and I will survive, until we can find each other again.' In a district of the city of Harbin, a haven for White Russian families since Russia's Communist revolution, Alina Kozlova must make a heartbreaking decision if her only child, Anya, is to survive the final days of World War II. White Gardenia sweeps across cultures and continents, from the glamorous nightclubs of Shanghai to the harshness of Cold War Soviet Russia in the 1960s, from a desolate island in the Pacific Ocean to a new life in post-war Australia. Both mother and daughter must make sacrifices, but is the price too high? Most importantly of all, will they ever find each other again? Rich in incident and historical detail, this is a compelling and beautifully written tale about yearning and forgiveness. PRAISE FOR WHITE GARDENIA: 'Depicts vividly the powerful lifelong bond between mothers and daughters' - Paullina Simons 'Captivating' - Daily Telegraph 'A passionate and powerful family saga' - Australian Women's Weekly

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Page Count

307

Publisher

HarperCollins Australia

Published Date

ISBN 10

0730443841

ISBN 13

9780730443841

Time Alive

Celebrate Your Life Every Day

By: Alexandra Stoddard

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Time Alive

Celebrate Your Life Every Day

By: Alexandra Stoddard

In seven sections representing essential domains of life—Time, Home, Style, Enthusiasm, Caring, Purpose, and Spirit—Alexandra Stoddard shows us how to celebrate every moment of life. This treasury of brief essays is chock-full of the wise ideas, personal anecdotes, and practical strategies that have inspired millions of her readers and audiences to live more beautifully and meaningfully every day. She helps readers form their own personal philosophy for living as well as discover specific, small actions that build tranquil time into the most hectic day, add lightness and energy when needed most, elevate a passing moment into a vivid memory. She encourages readers to "take stock, and rethink everything. We need to make the connection between how we spend our time and how well we live our lives." With each essay offering a memorable mindset for living, Alexandra's observations are searching ("What is your deepest desire?"), surprising ("Lower your standards"), encouraging ("You have 8,766 hours a year to act wisely"), and whimsical ("You've gotta have a look") and are certain to spur readers to new levels of insight and joy.

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Page Count

228

Publisher

Harper Collins

Published Date

ISBN 10

0061754137

ISBN 13

9780061754135

Things Good Mothers Know

A Celebration

By: Alexandra Stoddard

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Things Good Mothers Know

A Celebration

By: Alexandra Stoddard

In this warm and wise book, Alexandra Stoddard not only celebrates what mothers know—and what we would like them to know—she encourages them to attend to their own happiness in the quest to become better mothers. Raising a good child to become a good person begins with a mother's own inner transformation. Don't think if you are a good mother you will automatically be happy, she cautions. Be happy and you will be good at everything that is meaningful and valuable in your life! From giving practical advice, to taking a more philosophical approach, to offering a comforting pat on the back, Stoddard reaches out to mothers with words that will encourage, support, and cheer them on.

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Page Count

230

Publisher

Harper Collins

Published Date

ISBN 10

0061974919

ISBN 13

9780061974915

The Wives

By: Alexandra Popoff

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The Wives

By: Alexandra Popoff

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Page Count

200

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1639361324

ISBN 13

9781639361328

Reader's Choice

Essays and Stories

By: Kim Flachmann,Michael Flachmann,Alexandra MacLennan

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Reader's Choice

Essays and Stories

By: Kim Flachmann,Michael Flachmann,Alexandra MacLennan

Designed for Developmental Writing courses (Essay level). An appealing alternative to the popular Reader's Choice, now in its third Canadian edition, Reader's Choice: Essays and Stories adds fiction to provide a broader range of models of writing. The book's primary purpose continues to be helping students improve their ability to think, read, and write on progressively more sophisticated levels.

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Page Count

580

Publisher

Prentice Hall

Published Date

ISBN 10

0130418749

ISBN 13

9780130418746

Mothers

A Celebration

By: Alexandra Stoddard

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Mothers

A Celebration

By: Alexandra Stoddard

Even as women reach for the wider opportunities open to them, they still find that giving birth and raising children are defining roles in their lives. In "Mothers: A Celebration," Alexandra Stoddard reaches deep within herself for inspiring insights about the blessings and challenges of motherhood: how this life-changing event transforms, matures and pushes mothers to live more profoundly, wisely and mindfully than ever before. Drawing on her own experience as the mother of two daughters, as the stepmother of an extensive brood and as a daughter who often challenged her own mother's expectations, Stoddard relates charming anecdotes, bittersweet moments and stirring memories that shed light on the universal triumphs and trials of being a mother. She suggests how to find balance within our many responsibilities, how to learn to play as spontaneously as children and how to trust our instincts as parents even as we must gradually let go. In this thoughtful and affirming book-perfect for both reading and gift giving-Alexandra Stoddard honors the strength and contribution of mothers. Filled with Stoddard's noted down-to earth honesty and sparkling spirit, "Mothers: A Celebration" is a book every generation of women can treasure.

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Page Count

290

Publisher

Quill

Published Date

ISBN 10

038072619X

ISBN 13

9780380726196

Alexandra Stoddard's Living Beautifully Together

By: Alexandra Stoddard

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Alexandra Stoddard's Living Beautifully Together

By: Alexandra Stoddard

Describes how individuals and their "significant others" can beautify their relationships and their surroundings by living fully in the present and practicing self-nurturing.

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Page Count

248

Publisher

Doubleday Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

038524777X

ISBN 13

9780385247771

Book's by Alexandra Tolstoy

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