These novellas envision a future for the principal characters in three of Anton Chekhov's plays (
The Seagull,
Uncle Vanya, and
The Three Sisters), all set in Russia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
"Chekhov’s characters use words to avoid, conceal, cajole, deny, melodramatize, philosophize, prevaricate, and lie. Who wouldn’t want to know what’s going on in the heads behind those busy mouths? In a tour de force of the imagination, Catherine Browder deeply inhabits the point of view of central characters from three Chekhov plays — and creates the continuation of their lives in three convincing, charming and moving novellas."
—Janet Burroway,author ofLosing TimandOpening Nights
"Catherine Browder is in love with Chekhov’s characters. Why, she must be. She breathes with them. She understands them completely. She gives them further life—follows them off the stage to other moments in their lives in this wonderful collection of novellas. Yelena of
Uncle Vanya meets a man more appealing to her than Astrov ever was. Ah, we think, yes, she would. Irina of
Three Sisters has to deal with life after her fiancée is killed in a duel and the rest of the extended family pursues other matters. They would.
The Sea Gull novella visits life on the estate, post Kostya. Yes, life has gone on. Browder, in impeccable prose, captures all this with tender feeling and with dead-on accuracy."
—Kathleen George, author of
The Johnstown Girls“I was won over by this sensitive, soberly restrained handling of Chekhov's material.”
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Minneapolis Star Tribune “Call it homage. Call if fan fiction. Whatever you call it, it's worth a rl“)