BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week
"Wonderfully idiosyncratic, coolly heartfelt and memorable" William Boyd
"One of the great writers of early 20th Century Russia" Simon Sebag Montefiore
"A remarkable memoir...both potent and endearing" Erica Wagner, New Statesman
The writer and satirist Teffi was a literary sensation in Russia until war and revolution forced her to leave her country for ever. Memories is a blackly funny and heartbreaking account of her final, frantic journey into exile across Russia – travelling by cart, freight train and rickety steamer – and the 'ordinary and unheroic' people she encounters. Fusing exuberant wit and bitter horror, this is an extraordinary portrayal of what it means to say goodbye, and confirms Teffi as one of the most humane, perceptive observers of her times, and an essential writer for ours.
Translated by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler, Anne Marie Jackson and Irina Steinberg
Paperback