Chimes of a Lost Cathedral

I loved this so much. I studied Russian literature at university, including a module on Akhmatova, so I have a lot of context from which to draw. It was fascinating to see these characters' coming to life.

Amazing choice of narrator in Yelena Shmulenson.

These books are perfect adventure stories, and Marina is the wild queen, the tightrope walker, who lives and loves and crashes and burns and reinvents herself countless times in her rags and riches. Fighting through the sorrow and starvation of the Russian Revolution, losing friends and family, finding sparks and solace in lovers, and surviving through her poetry and the comradeship of the characters surrounding the House of Arts in Saint Petersburg. The book is rich in details, of history, politics and poetry, and never slow in plot. It makes you freeze in the Russian winter, ride on top of propaganda trains, and rejoice and dance at poor arthouse costume balls. Same as its predecessor it kept me up at night. After making us wait for almost the whole book for the arrival of Marina's charming fox, I'd say they got a perfect ending. Burning so hot, each one becoming what they're meant to be.I regret [b:The Revolution of Marina M. 34523120 The Revolution of Marina M. (The Revolution of Marina M. #1) Janet Fitch https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1498737687l/34523120.SY75.jpg 55657358] and [b:Chimes of a Lost Cathedral 42779085 Chimes of a Lost Cathedral (The Revolution of Marina M. #2) Janet Fitch https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1559593901l/42779085.SY75.jpg 66538295] aren't published as one giant edition, because once you finish this one, you want to return to the prologue of the first one, to complete the cycle, to search for any hints of the past in her new life.