Book 0214

This is a fascinating account of a cross-cultural childhood influenced by the heady politics of the early 1900s, which my Grandmother gave to me when I was a young girl. It had personal resonance for her as she too had grown up in Scotland and travelled on the Trans-Siberian express as a child in 1907, and for reading it instilled in me a deep interest in Russian art and culture. Dr Eugenie Fraser received much critical acclaim after writing this memoir, and when she died was the last living eyewitness to the Russian Revolution. My grandmother lived till she was 94, and, like Fraser, experienced much hardship in her life. This book to me has become symbolic of two strong and inspirational women who survived and prospered in turbulent historical times.