{"product_id":"9781925849134","title":"The Long Song of Tchaikovsky Street","description":"Author: Waterdrinker, Pieter\u003cbr\u003eISBN: 9781925849134\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Scribe Publications\u003cbr\u003eYear first published: 01 Feb 2022\u003cbr\u003ePages: 416 \u003cbr\u003eFormat: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'History doesn't repeat itself, it rhymes.'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne day in 1988, an enigmatic priest knocks on Pieter Waterdrinker's door with an unusual request: will he smuggle seven-thousand bibles into the Soviet Union. Pieter agrees, and soon finds himself living in the midst of one of the biggest social and cultural revolutions of our time, working as a tour operator ... with a sideline in contraband.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThirty years later, from his apartment on Tchaikovsky Street in Saint Petersburg, where he lives with his Russian wife and three cats, Pieter reflects on his personal history in the Soviet Union, as well as the century of revolutions that took place in and around his street. A master storyteller, he blends history with memoir to create an ode to the divided soul of Russia and an unputdownable account of his own struggles with life, literature, and love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'The recreations of revolutionary Russia are vivid (including his hatred of the Tsar, Lenin and Stalin) as is the daily reality of living in glasnost Russia. There are some positively Dostoevskian characters, and his portrait of Russia caught at twin moments of upheaval (1917, 1988) is an epic tale told with deceptive simplicity.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e-Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen, \u003ci\u003eThe Sydney Morning Heral\u003c\/i\u003ed\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Waterdrinker's gift for savage comedy and his war correspondent's eye have few contemporary equivalents.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e-Simon Ings, \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e'Engrossing ... grips you and doesn't let go.'\u003cbr\u003e-\u003cb\u003eMatthew Janney, \u003ci\u003eThe Spectator\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Ships in 10 to 15 days","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48198042583198,"sku":"UBD-9781925849134","price":36.78,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0400\/9043\/5742\/files\/9781925849134.jpg?v=1787746272","url":"https:\/\/classicbargains.com.au\/products\/9781925849134","provider":"Classic Bargains Australia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}