Rodina - in Russian, "the Motherland" - is about a Russian family and the tumultuous times through which they live. It tells the story of Evgenia, a Russian woman who endures the upheavals of her beleaguered homeland and personifies Rodina's strength. It is also about Evgenia's courageous daughters, the dedicated men they love, and the passions which propel all of their eventful lives. The saga opens in 1861, the year of the Great Emancipation - and Evgenia's birth. Her life unfolds in Derevnia, a village on the Volga, among people whose life is hard but also filled with beauty and joy. Amid the contradictions of her peasant environment, Evgenia grows up within a warm community of strong individuals: Babushka, the wise woman who teaches her the lore of the forest; Ekaterina, the village midwife who trains her as a healer; Mikhail, the chanter whose booming voice inspires her to sing; Ivan, the dedicated village priest whom she marries. When Evgenia's children grow up, they go off to Petersburg. Lisya, the eldest, plays violin in the orchestra of the glittering Maryinsky theatre. Tatiana, the youngest, dances in the elegant Imperial Ballet. Vladimir, their brother, leaves his Orthodox seminary to become a zealous Bolshevik. Against the dramatic and violent backdrop of the Russian Revolution, they experience war and terror, idealism and inspiration. Evgenia herself eventually joins her children in Petersburg - now Leningrad - where her granddaughter, Katya, works at the great Hermitage Art Museum. When the Nazis invade, Katya's husband, Alexei, goes off to fight at Stalingrad. Katya and her children are caught in the 900-day siege of Leningrad, as are Evgenia and Lisya. Together, all four generations join the heroic battle to defend their Motherland.
What happens when world leaders of the Cold War meet in the afterlife to discuss what happened? To determine responsibility for starting and/or stopping it? To be sentenced by cosmic justice for what they did and didn’t do? Churchill, De Gaulle, Khrushchev, Nehru, and LBJ are gathered in purgatory, on trial for their respective roles in the Cold War. They must all tell the truth as they know it; untruth is neither allowed nor possible. Purgatory is run by women. Justice is in charge, aided by the devil’s advocate for the prosecution, the guardian angel for the defense, and the recording angel—who reports the whole truth of what really happened—a.k.a. Clio, the muse of history. She tells it like it should be, but seldom is told on Earth. Though the scenario itself is obviously fiction, the rest of the book is not. The events discussed have been thoroughly investigated, and the times in which they occurred exhaustively researched. And the main characters themselves have been discovered, not created. What they are saying and doing is what they really said and did. All these leaders were passionately dedicated to the nations they served. All of them had to make hard choices, which made them less than perfect. On the scales of justice, did the good outweigh the bad?
BookEnds is a fable about Alpha grandchildren and Omega grandparents, and how they work together to create a harmonious community. Valkira is a precocious 10-year-old, struggling to survive at Jane Addams Junior High. She is rescued by her eccentric grandmother, who enables her to become a SuperHero and make her school a safe learning place. When the outside world threatens Valkira, Grandmre Minerva turns to her unconventional and colorful peers * the International Order of Grandmothers, who meet at a recycled amusement part. To protect their granddaughters, the grandmothers persuade the grandfathers to help them teach their grandsons. Alpha & Omega generations join forces to preserve the Earth and joyously celebrate the Circle of Life.
Born in 1657, Sophia Alexeyevna Romanov was the Tsars daughter, a tsarevna expected to wither away in glittering seclusion among her useless sisters and aunts. Instead, she became the first woman to rule Mother Russia. Seventeenth-century Russia was a time of bloody turbulence and brutal conflict. When the sudden death of Tsar Alexis I left the Russian Empire bereft of strong male leadership, Sophia was cast into the breach as Regent. She governed with competent zest, aided by her urbane and brilliant Prime Minister, Prince Vasily Golitsyn, with whom she had a passionate love affair. Wary and cautious, she protected the imperial throne as her young brother matured into his destiny as Tsar Peter the Great. Even as a boy, his titanic energy and enthusiasm foreshadowed his coming reign. Yet Sophia struggled to maintain her balance in loving this delightful child and realizing the harsh truth: once he became tsar, her rule would end. Set against the colorful, violent backdrop of Russia, Tsarevna is not only the story of an extraordinary woman in extraordinary circumstances, but a commentary on the sobering reality faced by any woman battling to empower herself in a world seeking to keep her captive.
Born in 1657, Sophia Alexeyevna Romanov was the Tsar's daughter, a tsarevna expected to wither away in glittering seclusion among her useless sisters and aunts. Instead, she became the first woman to rule Mother Russia. Seventeenth-century Russia was a time of bloody turbulence and brutal conflict. When the sudden death of Tsar Alexis I left the Russian Empire bereft of strong male leadership, Sophia was cast into the breach as Regent. She governed with competent zest, aided by her urbane and brilliant Prime Minister, Prince Vasily Golitsyn, with whom she had a passionate love affair. Wary and cautious, she protected the imperial throne as her young brother matured into his destiny as Tsar Peter the Great. Even as a boy, his titanic energy and enthusiasm foreshadowed his coming reign. Yet Sophia struggled to maintain her balance in loving this delightful child and realizing the harsh truth: once he became tsar, her rule would end. Set against the colorful, violent backdrop of Russia, Tsarevna is not only the story of an extraordinary woman in extraordinary circumstances, but a commentary on the sobering reality faced by any woman battling to empower herself in a world seeking to keep her captive.
BookEnds is a fable about Alpha grandchildren and Omega grandparents, and how they work together to create a harmonious community. Valkira is a precocious 10-year-old, struggling to survive at Jane Addams Junior High. She is rescued by her eccentric grandmother, who enables her to become a SuperHero and make her school a safe learning place. When the outside world threatens Valkira, Grandmre Minerva turns to her unconventional and colorful peers * the International Order of Grandmothers, who meet at a recycled amusement part. To protect their granddaughters, the grandmothers persuade the grandfathers to help them teach their grandsons. Alpha & Omega generations join forces to preserve the Earth and joyously celebrate the Circle of Life.
Rodina - in Russian, "the Motherland" - is about a Russian family and the tumultuous times through which they live. It tells the story of Evgenia, a Russian woman who endures the upheavals of her beleaguered homeland and personifies Rodina's strength. It is also about Evgenia's courageous daughters, the dedicated men they love, and the passions which propel all of their eventful lives. The saga opens in 1861, the year of the Great Emancipation - and Evgenia's birth. Her life unfolds in Derevnia, a village on the Volga, among people whose life is hard but also filled with beauty and joy. Amid the contradictions of her peasant environment, Evgenia grows up within a warm community of strong individuals: Babushka, the wise woman who teaches her the lore of the forest; Ekaterina, the village midwife who trains her as a healer; Mikhail, the chanter whose booming voice inspires her to sing; Ivan, the dedicated village priest whom she marries. When Evgenia's children grow up, they go off to Petersburg. Lisya, the eldest, plays violin in the orchestra of the glittering Maryinsky theatre. Tatiana, the youngest, dances in the elegant Imperial Ballet. Vladimir, their brother, leaves his Orthodox seminary to become a zealous Bolshevik. Against the dramatic and violent backdrop of the Russian Revolution, they experience war and terror, idealism and inspiration. Evgenia herself eventually joins her children in Petersburg - now Leningrad - where her granddaughter, Katya, works at the great Hermitage Art Museum. When the Nazis invade, Katya's husband, Alexei, goes off to fight at Stalingrad. Katya and her children are caught in the 900-day siege of Leningrad, as are Evgenia and Lisya. Together, all four generations join the heroic battle to defend their Motherland.
What happens when world leaders of the Cold War meet in the afterlife to discuss what happened? To determine responsibility for starting and/or stopping it? To be sentenced by cosmic justice for what they did and didn't do? Churchill, De Gaulle, Khrushchev, Nehru, and LBJ are gathered in purgatory, on trial for their respective roles in the Cold War. They must all tell the truth as they know it; untruth is neither allowed nor possible. Purgatory is run by women. Justice is in charge, aided by the devil's advocate for the prosecution, the guardian angel for the defense, and the recording angel--who reports the whole truth of what really happened--a.k.a. Clio, the muse of history. She tells it like it should be, but seldom is told on Earth. Though the scenario itself is obviously fiction, the rest of the book is not. The events discussed have been thoroughly investigated, and the times in which they occurred exhaustively researched. And the main characters themselves have been discovered, not created. What they are saying and doing is what they really said and did. All these leaders were passionately dedicated to the nations they served. All of them had to make hard choices, which made them less than perfect. On the scales of justice, did the good outweigh the bad?
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