Lara's Gift (17 page)
Authors: Annemarie O'Brien
At the time my story takes place, only nobility could own borzoi. These dogs were also never sold for money. They were given to friends, often other nobles abroad, as gifts. If a non-noble stole a borzoi or was caught with one, the punishment was severe. Although Lara saves Zar from being culled and treats him as her own, she is fully aware that Zar is the property of the Count.
Although it was not common for a Russian noble to marry or befriend someone beneath their social status, I found enough examples in my research to move forward with the friendship that Alexander and Lara share. Often, these grand estates were isolated from other estates and far from city life, making it convenient for the children of some peasants and nobles to become playmates.
In my research, I also found many examples of abusive husbands, submissive wives, and obedient children among Russian peasant families. I like to think that not all peasant families were like this. Surely, there were exceptions. Nevertheless, I may have taken liberties by giving Lara some pluck and a strong will to work with the borzoi, as well as with her
Matushka
, by giving her a voice to express her opinions. I kept with tradition, however, in maintaining the father’s role in finding a husband for his daughter.
Dogs were and are not allowed inside a Russian church. Although Lara is fully aware of this and for the most part respectful of the church and its establishment, her love of Zar is so strong, she breaks this well-known rule.
Russians have a rich culture of offering toasts and will often find any reason to celebrate. It is part of their everyday life and is accurately represented throughout
Lara’s Gift
.
Over the last hundred years, most wolf attacks on humans have involved individual wolves and have been extremely rare. I have taken some liberties in the climax of
Lara’s Gift
in order to create good fiction. It’s important to note that the wolf has historically been a controversial animal because of livestock losses and human safety, which led to attempts at extermination of wolves around the world. Modern environmental protections and conservation initiatives have supported wolf recovery—many
with great success. Today, the biggest threat to wolves is our own human belief systems. How we view the wolf as a large predator through the lens of our own value systems will influence whether or not we will allow wolves to exist into the future. Additionally, how we use the landscape for our own purposes will directly affect whether wolves have a place to exist.
Before you rush out to get a borzoi pup, please do your research to determine if this breed of dog is the right match for your situation. The borzoi is considered a giant breed, with an average height of 28 to 32 inches and an average weight of 60 to 100 pounds. They require exercise and should never be let off a leash in an unfenced area. They are an intelligent and affectionate breed, but are independent and can be stubborn. Borzoi come in a wide variety of colors besides white, cream, gold, and champagne. For a list of standard AKC colors, please see Bonnie Dalzell’s list at
borzoi-color.batw.net/quick_color.html
. One of my favorite borzoi colors is black. Borzoi are not like most popular breeds of dogs. For more detailed information, please go to
borzoiclubofamerica.org
.
In borrowing from Kathi Appelt’s wise words of comfort to her animal-loving readers of
The Underneath
, I want to assure my readers that there were no animals harmed or injured in the writing of
Lara’s Gift
.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of
Lara’s Gift
will be donated to the National Borzoi Rescue
Foundation (
nbrf.org
) to ensure that all borzoi in need find a forever home, and to the International Wolf Center (
wolf.org
) to advance the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wild lands, and the role of humans in their future.
Artemii Vorontsov (Woronzoff), my great-great-great-uncle, loved his daughter Praskovia so much that in her dowry he included Vorontsova (Woronzova), a family estate in the province of Tambov, in central Russia. It was a beautiful place with a tree-lined entrance leading to a large, two-story house. Situated on the high banks of the Tsna River, it was surrounded by a large park with cascading ponds leading to the river below. The estate comprised the stone manor house, a church, outbuildings, greenhouses, stables, the kennels, and other dependencies.
Praskovia gave the estate to her daughter Elizabeth, and it was Elizabeth’s son, Artemii Boldyrev (named for his great-grandfather Artemii Vorontsov), who bred at Vorontsova the famous line of magnificent white borzoi.
Artemii’s wife, Maria, also took a keen interest in the dogs. She was an excellent horsewoman and often participated in the hunt.
Today, only the park remains. The estate has disappeared and so have its owners, victims of revolutions, wars, and the great political and social changes in Russia during the twentieth century. A small museum in the neighboring village of Vorontsovka preserves the memory of the families and dogs that once lived there.
In
Lara’s Gift
, Annemarie O’Brien also preserves the past by submerging us in a time and place that is now gone but that holds us captive by its beauty and elegance, as well as its contradictions and inequalities. She vividly reconstructs everyday estate life—the echoes of distant church bells, the sounding of the horn, the stark cruelty of the hunt, and the joys and pain of birth. But most of all, she presents us with a young girl’s strength, perseverance, and enduring love for her dog.
Alexander Woronzoff-Dashkoff
Professor of Russian
Smith College
All foreign words are in Russian unless otherwise noted.
A
LMAZ:
Diamond
B
ABOCHKA:
Butterfly
B
ABUSHKA:
Grandmother
B
ISTRI:
Quick
B
LINI:
Russian pancakes
B
OHDAN:
Russian name for a male meaning “gift from God”
B
OLSHOE SPASIBO:
A big thanks
B
OREI:
North wind
B
ORSCHT:
Beet and cabbage soup
B
RONYA:
Armor
B
URAN:
Snowstorm
B
UYAN:
Rebel
C
HAI:
Tea
C
HARA:
Charm, enchantment
C
HONG RAHMAT:
Kyrgyz for “a big thanks”
D
AVAI!:
Come on! Let’s go!
D
OBRAYA:
Kind
D
OROGAYA:
Good one
D
OROGUSHA:
Very good one
G
OSPODI:
Oh my God
J’
AIME CES CHIENS PLUS QUE TOUT:
French for “I love these dogs more than anything.”
K
ASHA:
Porridge
K
NOUT:
A whip with a lash of leather thongs
K
OPECK:
Russian form of currency in which 100 kopecks amounts to 1 ruble
K
OROTYSHKA:
Runt
L
AROCHKA:
A diminutive form of Lara, which comes from the name Larissa and means “protection”
L
OVKIY:
Expert
M
AHALO:
Hawaiian for “thank you”
M
ATUSHKA:
Mommy, the term a peasant girl like Lara would use to address her mother
M
OLODIETZ!:
Good job!
N
YET:
No
O
CHEN BOLSHOE SPASIBO:
A big thanks
O
I:
Ouch
P
EI DO DNA!:
Bottoms up!
P
OZHALUISTA:
Please
R
ADUGA:
Rainbow
R
ASPUTIN:
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (1869–1916) was a Russian mystic who was suspected of having undue influence over the last Tsar, Nicholas II; his wife, Alexandra; and their only son, Alexei. There is much controversy over Rasputin. He was called a “psychic” and the “Mad Monk,” a
“strannik”
(religious pilgrim) and even a
“starets”
(elder). The royal family brought him into their circle to help them heal their son, Alexei, who had hemophilia. It has been argued that Rasputin helped to discredit the Tsarist government, leading to the fall of the Romanov dynasty in 1917. He was sent into and out of exile from 1909 until his death.
R
OSSAK:
Gray hare
R
UBLE
: The basic monetary unit of Russia, equal to 100 kopecks
R
YCZAR:
Knight
R
YSS:
Lynx
S
ASHA:
A diminutive form of Alexander
S
EMPER IMMOTA FIDES:
Latin for “Always Steadfast Loyalty”
S
HAIKA:
Bandit tribe
S
ILA:
Force
S
KORAYA:
Rapid
S
NIGURKA:
Snow maiden
S
OSKA:
Baby pacifier made of rags
S
PASIBO:
Thank you
T
ARAN:
Battering ram
T
YATYA:
Daddy, the term a peasant girl like Lara would use to address her father
U
MNITZA:
Clever one
V
ERST:
One verst equals 0.66 miles or 1.067 kilometers
V
LAST:
Power
V
OLAN:
Kite
Z
ANOZA:
Splinter, thorn in one’s flesh, sweetheart (also the name of one of Alfred A. Knopf’s borzoi)
Z
AR:
Lara’s diminutive form of the Russian word
ryczar
, which means “knight”
Z
ARYA:
Dawn
Z
OLA:
A diminutive form of the Russian word
zolotaya
, which means “golden”
Z
VEZDA:
Star
Z
VON:
Russian term for a set of tower bells in the Orthodox Church that are rung liturgically and on various festive occasions by manually pulling ropes attached to inside clappers. Could loosely be translated as “chime” or “peal” as well.
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