Chapters (53)
- Cover
- Title Page
- An Explanation of What This Book Is About
- Part One: Anna’s Sergei and Anya’s City: St. Petersburg, Saturday, January 8, 1905
- 1. On the Heels of Clementine, the Anarchist
- 2. Claudia and Sergei
- 3. Clementine Defends Herself
- 4. To the Concert
- 5. The Tsar’s Letter
- 6. In the Theater
- 7. What Giorgi, the Karenins’ Coachman, Did
- 8. Intermission at the Concert
- 9. Near the Port
- 10. More Specifics about Sergei
- 11. Kapitonich, Hall Porter at the Karenin Palace
- 12. Claudia and Sergei at Table
- 13. Aleksandra and Volodin Go to the Haven
- 14. Our Moment of Greatness
- 15. With Father Gapon
- 16. Clementine, in Pursuit of the Night
- 17. In the Karenin Palace Kitchen
- 18. We’ll Give Our Lives!
- 19. The Karenins Take Dinner
- Part Two: Bloody Sunday: Sunday, January 9, 1905
- 20. Anya Karenina without Aleksandra
- 21. The Karenins’ Reply to the Tsar
- 22. Piotr
- 23. The Three Women
- 24. Claudia’s Impatience
- 25. Unexpected Guests at the Karenin Palace
- 26. What on Earth Was the Tsar Thinking?
- 27. Back in the Karenin Palace Kitchen
- 28. The Reverend’s Beard
- Part Three: Karenina’s Portrait: Three months later
- 29. Karenina’s Portrait
- 30. About Clementine
- 31. The Critics Examine the Portrait
- 32. Vladimir
- 33. The Reason for the Proposed Purchase
- 34. The Portrait Departs
- 35. Between the Dream and the Battleship Potemkin
- 36. Claudia’s Regrets
- 37. In Claudia’s Hands
- Part Four: The Book of Anna: No date or place
- 38. An Opium-Infused Fairy Tale: The Book of Anna by Anna Karenina
- Part Five: Finale: St. Petersburg, June 1905
- 39. After Reading
- 40. The Plot
- 41. The Boxes
- 42. Anya Karenina
- 43. The Wind
- Funder Acknowledgments
- The Publisher’s Circle of Coffee House Press
Sir: We, the workers and citizens of the city of St. Petersburg, from a variety of walks of life, our wives, our children, and our defenseless elderly parents, have come to you, sir, for justice and protection…. Don’t refuse to help our community…. Free it from the intolerable oppression of officials. Destroy the wall between you and your citizens, and allow us to govern the country beside you.
As she reads, Anya argues with herself: Aleksandra’s departure is absolutely unacceptable, it’s understandable, she should dismiss her, she should forgive her…. What on earth? What is going on? She should have paid more attention to what they were saying in the hallway at the theater about Father Gapon. What has my dear, sweet Aleksandra gotten herself into? And why did she ask me for permission if she was going to go anyway? How did I not notice how upset she was? Why didn’t I give her a chance to tell me? I could have advised her, at least I’d have a better idea of what’s going on.
12. Claudia and Sergei at Table
12. Claudia and Sergei at Table
On the table, elegantly laid out and decorated according to Claudia’s taste, oysters await them and, for the main course, venison in almond sauce. The bread had only half risen, so the cook used it in a soup that’s not bad but not fit for the masters of the household. Although Sergei feels exceptionally energetic when he sits down, the champagne they keep refilling his glass with puts him into a reverie again. He fantasizes about the future he can almost touch. Claudia tries to initiate conversation, but Sergei, absorbed as he is, elicits only monosyllabic responses, and few at that. When the servants come to clear the table, she switches to French so they don’t understand.
“What are we going to do about the tsar’s request, Sergei? Don’t you want to discuss it?”
“I’ve already made up my mind.”
Claudia looks into his eyes tenderly but with something like astonishment as well.
“And? I can’t wait to hear!”
“I’ll make a deal with him. I’ll give him Mikhailov’s portrait of my mother because I can’t deny him, but I’ll ask him to transfer us. Far from any city. They need men they can trust to work against the propagandists who are corrupting—”