A Russian Gentleman - Aksakov

Here is the latest addition to the Peremech Lounge library collection:

A Russian Gentleman
by Sergei Aksakov 1943
The Readers Club, New York

excerpt:

"At this time an event happend at Ufa which caused a great sensation there and was especially interesting to the young Bagroffs, because the hero of the story was an intimate friend of theirs, and if I am not mistaken, distantly related to Alexyei Stepanitch. Sofya Nikolayevna, as one would expect from her character, took a lively interest in such a romantic affair. A young man, named Timasheff , one of the most prominent and richest nobles of the district, fell in love with a Tartar girl, the daughter of a rich Tartar landowner. Her family, just like the Alkins, had altered their way of living to a certain extent in conformity with European customs, and they spoke Russian well, but they strictly observed the Moslem faith in all its purity. The beautiful Salme returned the love of the handsome Russian officer, who was a captain in the regiment stationed near Ufa. As she could not be married to a Russian without changing her religion, it was perfectly certain that her parents and grown-up brothers would never give their consent to such a union."