Two Lives (set of 4 books)

The novel was written by opera singer, student of Konstantin Stanislavsky, soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre Concordia Antanova in 1943 in Moscow during the Great Patriotic War. During the writer's lifetime, the novel was not published. After her death in... 1959, the manuscript was kept by Elena Ter-Arutyunova, who considered Antanova her spiritual mentor.
Ter-Arutyunova introduced the novel to those she found suitable, distributing the book through samizdat. After the collapse of the USSR, the manuscript was handed over to the Latvian Roerich Society and was published for the first time in 1993.
Antanova was acquainted with some members of the Theosophical Society created by Helena Blavatsky and shared their beliefs. She claimed that the book was written through clairaudience — a method by which the books "Living Ethics" by Helena and Nikolai Roerich, as well as "The Secret Doctrine" by Helena Blavatsky, were allegedly recorded.
According to critics, despite the obvious ideological proximity of these books, "the uniqueness of Antanova's novel lies in the fact that she was the first to illustrate a complex and not widely accessible understanding of teachings in an engaging literary form."
About the novel:
"Two Lives" by Concordia Antanova is a novel about spiritual search, overcoming life's difficulties and personal growth.
The main character of the novel "Two Lives" is a young man named Lyovushka. Through the story of the boy and his mentor, the Teacher, the book narrates the meaning of life, the soul, love, and destiny. According to researchers of Antanova's work and her students, the prototype for Lyovushka was the writer Leo Tolstoy, who "dictated" this novel to the writer.
The author of the esoteric work "Rose of the World," Daniil Andreyev, wrote: "He who was Tolstoy, at the heights of meta-culture creates something else — what's even more grand for those layers than 'War and Peace' — for us."
The heroes of the novel are souls that have completed their evolution on Earth but remain here to help other people in their spiritual ascent.
There are no fictional characters in the book — all heroes are recognizable, despite different names. The prototypes of the great Teachers include: teacher Ali — El Morya, doctor I. — Hilarion, Florentine — Pavel Venetian, sir Ut-Uomi — Kuthumi, Sanjer — Saint-Germain, Ananda — Yogananda. As students: Natalia Andreyeva — Helena Blavatsky, Lady Berdran — Annie Besant, Oldenkot — Henry Olcott, Aninin — Sergei Rachmaninoff, Igo Bronetsky — Konstantin Stanislavsky, Francis — Francis of Assisi, daughter of the pastor Alice — Alice Bailey.
The book consists of four volumes, of which 1 and 3 are the story of Lyovushka himself, while 2 and 4 are the story of his brother and surroundings.
The novel is addressed to lovers of mystical prose and adventures, the spiritual wisdom of the East, and those who are interested in issues of self-awareness and spiritual self-realization.