The love of my childhood has been translated into English!
When I was younger and still living in Russia, one of my favorite books was Alexei Tolstoy's Prince Seryebryani, a novel set during the reign of Ivan the Terrible.
Imagine my surprise to find out it's been translated into English and is even available for download/sale.
I don't think I could read it in English because that would be bizarre but - cool.
For anyone who is interested, PS' protagonist is a warrior-nobleman who returns from his long absence fighting and negotiating in the Baltic to the court of Ivan only to find out the whole place has become brutal and insane (even by the standards of that time) and that his betrothed, Elena, married someone else - an elderly friend of her father, in order to protect herself from dishonor offered by one of Ivan's favorites - she had no choice as her true love was far far away. If you think it gets better, it does not.
Seryebryani/Elena were, looking back, one of my earliest ships and the ending of the novel made me spit nails all those years ago. Looking at the Russian-language summary on wikipedia, I am pleased to see the nail-spitting reaction is still present. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, LUNATIC ELENA! Her husband gets executed by Ivan but instead of remarrying to her true love, she joins the monastery as a nun, because she wants atone for the sin of never loving him and always loving her OTP. Seryebryani manages to see her in the nunnery by promising them all his fortune, but he cannot convince her, so he leaves to fight in wars and die because he has nothing to live for. RAGE RAGE RAGE RAGE RAGE RAGE.
Imagine my surprise to find out it's been translated into English and is even available for download/sale.
I don't think I could read it in English because that would be bizarre but - cool.
For anyone who is interested, PS' protagonist is a warrior-nobleman who returns from his long absence fighting and negotiating in the Baltic to the court of Ivan only to find out the whole place has become brutal and insane (even by the standards of that time) and that his betrothed, Elena, married someone else - an elderly friend of her father, in order to protect herself from dishonor offered by one of Ivan's favorites - she had no choice as her true love was far far away. If you think it gets better, it does not.
Seryebryani/Elena were, looking back, one of my earliest ships and the ending of the novel made me spit nails all those years ago. Looking at the Russian-language summary on wikipedia, I am pleased to see the nail-spitting reaction is still present. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, LUNATIC ELENA! Her husband gets executed by Ivan but instead of remarrying to her true love, she joins the monastery as a nun, because she wants atone for the sin of never loving him and always loving her OTP. Seryebryani manages to see her in the nunnery by promising them all his fortune, but he cannot convince her, so he leaves to fight in wars and die because he has nothing to live for. RAGE RAGE RAGE RAGE RAGE RAGE.