Swan Song of the Defeated: a novel

The book by Irina Vladimirovna Golovkina (1904-1989), granddaughter of the great Russian composer Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov, is a work of rare strength, depth, and sincerity. This is a narrative about people who performed a heroic act of honor, a truly... tragic chronicle of several aristocratic families who did not leave Russia after the revolution and the Civil War and fell into the hell of repression. The novel is permeated with the bitter poetry of the defeated (hence its second title), but who did not surrender – in the most difficult circumstances they maintain their dignity and ideals, their almost mystical love for the Motherland. This is not just a testimony of the past, but a history of feelings, fidelity, betrayal, resilience – a living life with all its joys and sorrows.
The novel was first published in the early 1990s, after the author's death, and became a true bibliographic rarity. This bitter and majestic family saga will undoubtedly conquer the hearts and souls of millions of readers.