Four Books

The Secret Plot to Save the Tsar

By Shay McNeal

William Morrow, November 2002

368 pages • $25.95

“Facts are like cows. If you look them in

the face hard enough, they generally

run away.”

— Dorothy L. Sayers

It seemed as if everyone but the Russian Orthodox Church and the Expert Commission Abroad accepted the fact that Russia’s last royal family was put to rest in St. Petersburg’s Peter and Paul Cathedral on July 17, 1998. Scientists had DNA-tested the long-lost bones, certified the results, put them under lock and key and the world’s press proclaimed the end of a 70-year-old mystery.

Wait a minute, “lock and key”? Why would the results of the testing be hidden away. Are there [sorry about this] skeletons in someone’s closet?

Shay McNeal thinks so. In this compelling new investigation of the murder of the Romanovs, she posits that many hard questions in this strange affair are far from answered. She casts suspicions on conventional views of all the major players in the drama, from the flip-flopping assassin Yakov Yurovsky  to the strangely lucky bone hunters, Alexander Avdonin and Geli Ryabov, to Ipatiev house-wrecker Boris Yeltsin. But what is even more fascinating is her retelling of several secret plots to save the Tsar and his family that could conceivably have succeeded. Plots that involved secret tunnels, a passage through China and a rendezvous with an American warship …

Did someone say “movie rights”?

Clearly, many have long thought the investigation of the Romanov remains could have been handled much better. But few have seriously questioned the actions and motives of those involved. Fewer still have offered the kinds of detailed rebuttals of conventional wisdom that McNeal offers here. Like her, you may come away from the investigation not knowing what to believe. If you want certain answers, don’t pick up this book. But if you want to read a very compelling, true-life cloak-and-dagger mystery, buy McNeal’s book. Or wait for the movie.

A Year of Russian Feasts

By Catherine Cheremeteff Jones

Jellyroll Press, August 2002

192 pages • $16.95

There are countless ways to organize a cookbook: by main ingredients, by region, by type of cooking … Jones’ approach is to walk her readers through the Russian year, from maslenitsa in spring, through summers at the dacha, to mushroom hunting in fall and high celebrations in the depths of winter. Along the way, she pauses to consider the major holidays and feasts, to discuss the importance of basic ingredients and dishes, to explain cloaked traditions. The result is a loving portrait of one of the world’s richest—and most under-appreciated—cuisines.

Jones brings just the right pedigree to the task. Her grandfather was Nikita Cheremeteff, great-great-grandson of Tsar Nicholas I. And she is a trained professional chef. Yet this is neither a dusty personal memoir nor a sterile listing of ingredients and cooking temperatures. In fact, this is a cookbook best read first and referenced later. Pull up a cup of tea and read with the seasons, percolate ideas for some meals, then refer back here for the ideal recipes.

For a sampling of Jones’ style and presentation, see the Cuisine page in this issue. We were graciously permitted to share one of the wonderful mushroom recipes from her collection. So now you have the appetizer; you just need the main course …

The Shaman’s Coat: A Native
History of Siberia

By Anna Reid

Walker & Company • October 2002

240 pages • $24

Siberia is like the Sahara, the Amazon or the Himalayas. Its very name evokes a climate, a feeling, an aura of mystery and fascination.

Siberia is Russia’s endless backyard, its still unconquered frontier, a vast historical and geographical space that seems impossible to in any way enclose between the covers of a book. Certainly many have tried, usually by taking a human-sized slice of history or geography and limiting their focus to just that. Reid (who wrote a highly-acclaimed history of Ukraine) approaches Siberia through the history of its native peoples. But this is not some dry academic tome. Instead, it reads like a series of travel essays well-informed by history.

Reid has a gift for weaving the perfect anecdote, poem or historical tidbit into her rich, personal narrative. Her descriptions of remote villages and local characters are superb, as in this description of Chukotka:

“From a window-seat on a clear day, the view on the way freezes the blood. Inland, the Arctic tundra scrolls away like marbled paper, its rivers scattered into a confetti of silvery, ox-bow lakes. Over the coast, the landscape fades into the subtlest white-on-white, to abstract zig-zags, pleats and scallops, perfect as incised porcelain.”

After a brief history of the discovery and settlement of Siberia, the book is divided into several neat and concise chapters on the Khant, Buryat, Tuvan, Sakha, Ainu, Nivkh, Uilta and Chukchi peoples, each informed by the author’s perceptive on the ground reportage and personal interaction with the Siberian natives.

No, you can’t get all of Siberia in 240 pages. But Reid serves up a very rich slice.

Other New and Notable Items:

The Hermitage 2000 (DVD Rom). Can’t make it to St. Petersburg this year? Go virtually with this bilingual guide to the Hermitage. It includes over 310 images of works of art, a virtual exhibition space of 25 rooms and a rich art history in electronic book format plus lots of cross references. [$44.95 • www.ndepublishing.com • 905-731-1228]

Бомонд от А до Я (Beau monde from A to Z), by Vladimir Mochalov & Yuri Timyansky. Acclaimed caricaturist and cartoonist (and illustrator of Russian Life’s Survival Russian columns) Vladimir Mochalov has teamed up with poet Yuri Timyansky to produce this humorous book of over 50 caricatures, each with a four-line poetic barb rich with innuendo and word play. Leading actors, politicians, performers and intelligents are all softly skewered and lightly basted. The book is only available in Russian and Russian Life has a limited number of copies available for sale. [$10 + s&h • www.russian-life.com • 802-223-4955]