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
“We curse them! We curse them!”
“Comrades, what if the tsar turns us away?”
Volodin, Aleksandra, and Clementine struggle through the crowd toward the front, announcing that they have a message for Father Gapon they must deliver personally. They reach him as he’s exiting the church through a side door.
Clementine goes directly to him, looking him in the eyes. She says, “This is only for your ears, I come straight from Vladimir.” She whispers the password in his ear. Father Gapon takes her hand and steps away from his entourage to hear what she has to say. He makes a sign to his men to form a circle around them so he can hear in relative privacy what is meant only for his ears; in the blink of an eye, their backs surround them. Father Gapon leans over to hear her, and Clementine brings her mouth to the ear of this Ukrainian man of the cloth.
“The tsar won’t receive you in St. Petersburg, Father Gapon. They’ve made it clear to Vladimir. He’s the only one who returned, they took the other messengers prisoner and won’t release them. Vladimir asked me to tell you that the tsar won’t return tomorrow, he won’t receive your petition.”
Father Gapon straightens up and says loudly, “Young woman, I know all this.”
“There’s more, Father,”—now Clementine does not take care to lower her voice. “The center of the city has been wallpapered with notices announcing a new decree prohibiting demonstrations, on pain of death.”
Father Gapon makes a gesture as if to say he already knows and it doesn’t matter. Clementine replies, practically shouting, “Don’t make the people march, Father. Your messenger says the tsar won’t receive them and the police have warned that they will kill your people! You’re leading them to the slaughter!”
Father Gapon stares daggers at Clementine and makes a show of blessing her with his hand before turning his back on her and joining his entourage while his lieutenants remark, “A crazy woman. Lord have mercy upon her!”
“No, she’s not crazy. She’s a corrupt government agent!”
They surround Aleksandra and push Clementine out of the reverend’s circle. Volodin stays by Clementine’s side, instinctively protecting her; he takes her arm and they move away.
As soon as the crowd is behind them, Clementine curses under her breath, “Damn bomb! If only it had exploded, if only …” Then she screams, “My bomb wasn’t meant to kill anyone! But Father Gapon … he’s not just playing with fire, he’s leading them to the …”
And Volodin thinks, Yes, Clementine has lost it, she’s gone crazy on us, Father Gapon is the kindest man on earth.
“I’ll leave you here, Clementine. I have to go back for Vladimir’s sister, I promised Giorgi I’d look after her….”
14. Our Moment of Greatness
14. Our Moment of Greatness