Historical fiction books from Russia
Recommended historical fiction books (10)
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
If you are into historical fiction here are some historical fiction books from Russia for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge.
1.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy EN
Description:
Presents the classic nineteenth-century Russian novel in which a young woman is destroyed when she attempts to live outside the moral law of her society.
3.
Description:
Tolstoy’s final work—a gripping novella about the struggle between the Muslim Chechens and their inept occupiers—is a powerful moral fable for our time. Inspired by a historical figure Tolstoy heard about while serving in the Caucasus, this story brings to life the famed warrior Hadji Murat, a Chechen rebel who has fought fiercely and courageously against the Russian empire. After a feud with his commander he defects to the Russians, only to find that he is now trusted by neither side. He is first welcomed but then imprisoned by the Russians under suspicion of being a spy, and when he hears ne... continue
5.
Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov by Anton Chekhov EN
Description:
Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, the highly acclaimed translators of War and Peace, Doctor Zhivago, and Anna Karenina, which was an Oprah Book Club pick and million-copy bestseller, bring their unmatched talents to The Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov, a collection of thirty of Chekhov’s best tales from the major periods of his creative life. Considered the greatest short story writer, Anton Chekhov changed the genre itself with his spare, impressionistic depictions of Russian life and the human condition. From characteristically brief, evocative early pieces such as “The Huntsman” and... continue
6.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy EN
Description:
Hailed as one of the world's supreme masterpieces on the subject of death and dying, The Death of Ivan Ilyich is the story of a worldly careerist, a high court judge who has never given the inevitability of his death so much as a passing thought. But one day death announces itself to him, and to his shocked surprise he is brought face to face with his own mortality. How, Tolstoy asks, does an unreflective man confront his one and only moment of truth? This short novel was the artistic culmination of a profound spiritual crisis in Tolstoy's life, a nine-year period following the publication of ... continue
7.
The Orchard : A Novel by Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry EN
Description:
Four teenagers grow inseparable in the last days of the Soviet Union—but not all of them will live to see the new world arrive in this powerful debut novel, loosely based on Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. “Spectacular . . . intensely evocative and gorgeously written . . . will fill readers’ eyes with tears and wonder.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune Coming of age in the USSR in the 1980s, best friends Anya and Milka try to envision a free and joyful future for themselves. They spend their summers at Anya’s dacha just outside of Moscow, lazing in the apple orchard, listening to Queen songs, and ... continue
8.
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy EN
Description:
Introduction by A. N. Wilson • Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read Often called the greatest novel ever written, War and Peace is at once an epic of the Napoleonic Wars, a philosophical study, and a celebration of the Russian spirit. Tolstoy’s genius is seen clearly in the multitude of characters in this massive chronicle—all of them fully realized and equally memorable. Out of this complex narrative emerges a profound examination of the individual’s place in the historical process, one that makes it clear why Thomas Mann praised Tolstoy for his Hom... continue
9.
White Shanghai : A Novel of the Roaring Twenties in China : a Historical Novel by Elvira Baryakina EN
Description:
Some call the city the 'Splendor of the East'; others the 'Whore of Asia'. A melting pot of different nations, fused by war and commerce, this is the Shanghai of the 1920s. The Great Powers are greedily exploiting China for its cheap labor and reaping the cruel rewards of the booming opium trade. When a flotilla of ships carries the remnants of the defeated White Army on entry to Shanghai, the fragile balance of this international marketplace comes under threat. Among the refugees is Klim Rogov, an emigre journalist whose life and marriage have been claimed by the Russian Revolution. All he ha... continue
10.
Zuleijá abre los ojos by Guzel Yakhina ES
Description:
Corre la década de 1930 en la pequeña aldea de Tartaria donde viven Zuleijá, su rústico marido, treinta años mayor, y su anciana suegra, empeñada en castigarla por no darle nietos. La educación recibida impide a la joven resentir siquiera el grado de servidumbre al que está sometida o desear una vida distinta. Pero cuando una serie de acontecimientos la arranquen de su pequeña familia y la arrojen a un mundo no menos brutal, pero sí más ancho y diverso, lleno de personas de distintas procedencias, oficios y credos, ve... continue