Book description
The House by the Dvina is the riveting story of two families
separated in culture and geography but bound together by a
Russian-Scottish marriage. It includes episodes as romantic and
dramatic as any in fiction: the purchase by the author's
great-grandfather of a peasant girl with whom he had fallen in love;
the desperate sledge journey in the depths of winter made by her
grandmother to intercede with Tsar Aleksandr II for her husband; the
extraordinary courtship of her parents; and her Scottish granny being
caught up in the abortive revolution of 1905.
Eugenie Fraser herself was brought up in Russia but was taken on
visits to Scotland. She marvellously evokes a child's reactions to two
totally different environments, sets of customs and family
backgrounds, while the characters are beautifully drawn and splendidly memorable.
With the events of 1914 to 1920 - the war with Germany, the
Revolution, the murder of the Tsar and the withdrawal of the Allied
Intervention in the north - came the disintegration of Russia and of
family life. The stark realities of hunger, deprivation and fear are
sharply contrasted with the adventures of childhood. The reader shares
the family's suspense and concern about the fates of its members and
relives with Eugenie her final escape to Scotland.
In The House by the Dvina, Eugenie Fraser has vividly and
poignantly portrayed a way of life that finally disappeared in
violence and tragedy.
Eugenie Fraser was born in Archangel to a Russian father and a
Scottish mother. After the family fled to Scotland, she was brought up
in Broughty Ferry and later spent most of her life in India with her
husband. She died in Edinburgh in 2002.
