The Revolution Of Marina M. Hardcover

Janet Fitch

From the mega-bestselling author of White Oleander and Paint It Black, a sweeping historical saga of the Russian Revolution, as seen through the eyes of one young woman St. Petersburg, New Year's Day, 1916: Marina Makarova is as old as the century. A young woman of privilege, she writes poetry, dreams of a dashing young officer, and aches to break out of the constraints of her genteel life. But this life is about to be violently upended by the vast forces of history. Swept up on these tides, Marina will join the marches for workers' rights, fall in love with a radical young poet, spy for the Bolsheviks, and betray everything she holds dear, before being betrayed in turn. As her country goes through almost unimaginable upheaval, Marina's own coming of age unfolds, marked by deep passion and devastating loss, great brutality and unexpected redemption, and the private heroism of an ordinary woman living through extraordinary times. Written in lush, powerful prose by a master storyteller, The Revolution of Marina M. is a publishing event: the epic, mesmerizing story of one indomitable woman's journey through some of the most dramatic events of the last century.

9780316022064

English

Little, Brown And Company

1/Jan/18

800

Janet Fitch's first novel, White Oleander, a #1 bestseller and Oprah's Book Club selection, has been translated into 24 languages and was made into a feature film. Her most recent novel, Paint It Black, hit bestseller lists across the country and has also been made into a film. She lives in Los Angeles.

Ambitious, vivid, engrossing. Fitch puts flesh and bones on one of the most tumultuous times in human history, a vast canvas filled with the rising up the oppressed, na?ve hope, abrupt reversals and crushing betrayals. The novel is a virtuoso rendition of the time, buoyed by Fitch's impeccable research and her bold, unforgettable prose.--Susan Sherman, author of If You Are There and The Little Russian "Fitch catches and holds our interest through 800 pages, rewarding us with rich and provocative stories, compelling characters and literary prose of the very highest order."--Jonathan Kirsch, Jewish Journal "A beautiful, cinematic novel...Hollywood, take note."--Alison K. Hill, Daily Bulletin "Fitch narrows the Russian Revolution to one woman's perspective, crafting a gorgeous epic that's a must-read for historical fiction fans."--Frannie Jackson, Paste Magazine "This is an epic page-turner of a novel."--Mackenzie Dawson, NY Post "Janet Fitch's The Revolution of Marina M., an epic tale of one young woman's story amid the drama and tragedy of the Russian Revolution, is just the thing to keep you both personally inspired and seasonally appropriate."--Mary Sollosi, Entertainment Weekly "This is Janet Fitch at her finest."--Elizabeth Entenman, HelloGiggles "Janet Fitch's novel shimmers with vital energy...[she] clearly did an astounding amount of research for the novel, which luxuriates in exotic period details...The Revolution of Marina M. is hard to put down...it is charming and lively and ultimately worth the time."--Trine Tsouderos, Chicago Tribune "Marina is by turns adventurous, foolish, romantic, self-destructive and courageous in this extraordinary coming-of-age tale."--Jane Ciabbatari, BBC Culture "Sprawling, immersive, and heavily researched."--Steph Cha, USA Today "Marina's unlikely bildungsroman proves so gripping that it's hard to put down...Fitch depicts [the Revolution] with devastating accuracy and imaginative power...sprawling, majestic."--Ani Kokobobo, LA Review of Books "This new novel from the author of White Oleander is going to swallow you up entirely."--Melissa Ragsdale, Bustle "This epic tale from the bestselling author of White Oleander follows Marina Makarova, a young woman living in St. Petersburg at the start of the Russian Revolution in 1916. Looking to escape from her privileged life, she joins the marches for worker's rights-and finds herself falling in love with the movement and a young radical. In this relatable coming-of-age novel, Marina grapples with a changing world and struggles to find her place in it."--Nora Horvath, Real Simple "It's a portrait of a moment in time -- of a woman in time, in fact -- that we don't often see, and you'll find yourself savoring each and every word of this breathtaking novel."--Chelsea Hassler, PopSugar "Fitch's novel presents a richly described, on-the-street view of the revolution's transformative, often violent throes.... she provides an excellent sense of history's unpredictability and shows how the desperate pursuit of survival leads to morally compromising decisions...Fitch's cinematic storytelling and Marina's vibrant personality are standout elements in this dramatic novel."--Sarah Johnson, Booklist "The resilient Marina has much in common with the modern heroines of the author's previous books and is a protagonist worth following."--Publishers Weekly "A captivating novel starring an unforgettable heroine, The Revolution of Marina M. shows you a side to the Russian Revolution you've never seen before."--Sadie Trombetta, Bustle "Fitch captures the epic grandeur of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, situating her characters in the pages of authentic history. Yet she also infuses her protagonists with transgressive sexual energy...vividly portraying Marina's sexual awakenings as she falls in and out of love.... Readers of Tolstoy, Boris Pasternak, and Margaret Mitchell will thrill to this narrative of women in love during the cataclysm of war."--Barbara Conaty, Library Journal "An achingly lyric chronicle of the Russian Revolution seen through the eyes of one of its daughters of privilege as she skirts the peripheries of her own adulthood. Fundamentally though, it is a story of the insurgent politics of a woman's heart -- whom and how she loves, what governs, betrays, or becomes her. The beauty of this book broke me open. Janet Fitch is stunningly, startlingly talented."--Jill Alexander Essbaum, author of Hausfrau "The Revolution of Marina M. takes us deep inside the Russian Revolution and lets us witness it through a pair of remarkable eyes. Marina is a female Zhivago - a poet who uses her intelligence, her passion, and her love of language to interpret and survive the political turmoil around her. Janet Fitch is a wonderful writer and this might be her best book."--David Ebershoff, author of The Danish Girl and The 19th Wife "In this lusty and intelligent novel, Fitch brilliantly entwines the blooming of a teenage girl with the bursting of a country, and tells their story with such intensity and urgency you can nearly hear the thundering hoofbeats of time and feel the shaking through the pages. This is an epic deserving comparison to the Russian masterworks -- not for its size, but for its scope, not for its subject, but for the sweep with which it meets it. Rarely have I ever known history to come so fully, fiercely alive."--Josh Weil, author of The Great Glass Sea "There's brilliance in this book: concept, structure, style. If the horrors associated with the Russian revolution freeze your blood, remember the fire and brimstone of our own Civil War. Read this novel for the passion of the main character, a girl becoming woman and poet with ten times the vitality and intellect of Scarlett O'Hara."--Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab's Wife and Abundance, a Novel of Marie-Antoinette "Incandescent. Fitch has expertly drawn the world of Russia in 1916 in flurries of white, like an exquisite snow globe, and then nudged it to the edge of a precipice, until in one jarring push, it falls. It crashes and each brilliant shard lifts and swirls. Poets, artists, profiteers, soldiers, cult leaders, sadists, idealists, blood, sex, hope all piecing together in a new life, a new country. The brilliant Janet Fitch has written yet another powerful, kaleidoscopic novel."--Cynthia Bond, author of Ruby