×
Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date.
For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now.

Journey Through a Dark Forest, Volume IV: The Good It Is Their Hap to Find
by Ursula HartleinUrsula Hartlein
NOOK Book(eBook)
USD
4.99
$4.99
Available on Compatible NOOK Devices and the free NOOK Apps.
WANT A NOOK?
Explore Now
LEND ME®
See Details
Overview
While the whole world is in the throes of one of the most concentrated periods of Sturm und Drang in recent memory, the Konevs and their friends far and wide struggle to survive and make their way back to some semblance of a peaceful, ordinary world.
Darya, Oliivia, and their friends feel like a species from another planet after they arrive in America, and Darya feels betrayed when her barely-older uncle Osyenka begins dating Oliivia. She and Oliivia survived so much together, and survived for one another, because of one another. Now Osyenka is breaking up the happy quartet she enjoyed with Oliivia, Halina, and Maja before Darya feels ready for them to live separate lives.
After the Zyuganovs become American citizens, they leave the congestion of Manhattan for the spacious, slower-paced neighborhoods of Queens Village and Tottenville, Staten Island. Their newfound happiness in these idyllic areas contrasts with Darya's experience of returning to Firebird Fields in Minnesota after her twenty-first birthday. Darya, once so eager to finally reunite with her beloved mother and see everyone else in her family again, quickly realizes she can't talk about her wartime experiences with anyone who wasn't there. She resolves to lie by omission, or dance around the ugly truth.
Instead of accepting Darya's stories at face value, Lyuba and Ivan suspect something is very wrong with her, and that she's hiding something. She hoards food; only wears long sleeves; never leaves the house, even for church; spends long periods locked in her room; breaks down crying all the time, even over seemingly little things; constantly has nightmares; and draws extremely disturbing pictures. The cruel truth about Pitchipoi, as Darya calls it, can't stay hidden forever, particularly not after Darya's youngest sisters walk in on her without her wig.
Into this emotional whirlwind steps Darya's old friend Andrey Vishinsky, Kat and Nikolas's oldest son. Darya is outraged when he and his twin sister Anzhelika come home from the University of Minnesota to see her. In Darya's eyes, Andrey is an unmanly coward for seeking and accepting a draft deferment to study psychology instead of getting into uniform and putting his life on the line like her big brother Fedya. However, Darya's blazing fury soon calms down, and she accepts Andrey's offer of psychological counseling. Andrey truly wants to help Darya to heal her wounded heart, soul, and mind, but he's also falling in love with her.
Meanwhile, the remaining pieces of Lyuba's long-ago dream begin coming true when Katya and Dmitriy unexpectedly renew their old acquaintance. As much as Katya tries to repel his flirtatious, extremely forward comments and suggestions, an increasing attraction to him builds, and they soon are involved in a passionate secret romance that crosses the point of no return. Their relationship is complicated not only by their parents' longstanding enmity, but by the one thing a respectable young woman like Katya lives in dread of.
Up in Toronto, Yuriy has spent his first year back in civilian life locked in anguish over his unrequited love for Inga. Yuriy has held back from revealing his true feelings so long because he and Inga have been only friends for the longest time, and there are almost five and a half years between them. Out of desperation, Yuriy invites her to his family's annual summer holiday on Vancouver Island, with his eye on eventually confessing. Inga is shocked and flattered to finally learn the truth, but doesn't think this can ever be more than a summer romance, since she doesn't love Yuriy, and they live in different countries. But all that dramatically changes when one of the greatest scourges of this era is visited upon Inga.
And back in Minnesota, the happiness and relative peace of mind Darya has managed to find her way back to are threatened when her long-latent tuberculosis returns with a vengeance. Will the Konevs ever find their way out of this endless journey through a dark forest?
Darya, Oliivia, and their friends feel like a species from another planet after they arrive in America, and Darya feels betrayed when her barely-older uncle Osyenka begins dating Oliivia. She and Oliivia survived so much together, and survived for one another, because of one another. Now Osyenka is breaking up the happy quartet she enjoyed with Oliivia, Halina, and Maja before Darya feels ready for them to live separate lives.
After the Zyuganovs become American citizens, they leave the congestion of Manhattan for the spacious, slower-paced neighborhoods of Queens Village and Tottenville, Staten Island. Their newfound happiness in these idyllic areas contrasts with Darya's experience of returning to Firebird Fields in Minnesota after her twenty-first birthday. Darya, once so eager to finally reunite with her beloved mother and see everyone else in her family again, quickly realizes she can't talk about her wartime experiences with anyone who wasn't there. She resolves to lie by omission, or dance around the ugly truth.
Instead of accepting Darya's stories at face value, Lyuba and Ivan suspect something is very wrong with her, and that she's hiding something. She hoards food; only wears long sleeves; never leaves the house, even for church; spends long periods locked in her room; breaks down crying all the time, even over seemingly little things; constantly has nightmares; and draws extremely disturbing pictures. The cruel truth about Pitchipoi, as Darya calls it, can't stay hidden forever, particularly not after Darya's youngest sisters walk in on her without her wig.
Into this emotional whirlwind steps Darya's old friend Andrey Vishinsky, Kat and Nikolas's oldest son. Darya is outraged when he and his twin sister Anzhelika come home from the University of Minnesota to see her. In Darya's eyes, Andrey is an unmanly coward for seeking and accepting a draft deferment to study psychology instead of getting into uniform and putting his life on the line like her big brother Fedya. However, Darya's blazing fury soon calms down, and she accepts Andrey's offer of psychological counseling. Andrey truly wants to help Darya to heal her wounded heart, soul, and mind, but he's also falling in love with her.
Meanwhile, the remaining pieces of Lyuba's long-ago dream begin coming true when Katya and Dmitriy unexpectedly renew their old acquaintance. As much as Katya tries to repel his flirtatious, extremely forward comments and suggestions, an increasing attraction to him builds, and they soon are involved in a passionate secret romance that crosses the point of no return. Their relationship is complicated not only by their parents' longstanding enmity, but by the one thing a respectable young woman like Katya lives in dread of.
Up in Toronto, Yuriy has spent his first year back in civilian life locked in anguish over his unrequited love for Inga. Yuriy has held back from revealing his true feelings so long because he and Inga have been only friends for the longest time, and there are almost five and a half years between them. Out of desperation, Yuriy invites her to his family's annual summer holiday on Vancouver Island, with his eye on eventually confessing. Inga is shocked and flattered to finally learn the truth, but doesn't think this can ever be more than a summer romance, since she doesn't love Yuriy, and they live in different countries. But all that dramatically changes when one of the greatest scourges of this era is visited upon Inga.
And back in Minnesota, the happiness and relative peace of mind Darya has managed to find her way back to are threatened when her long-latent tuberculosis returns with a vengeance. Will the Konevs ever find their way out of this endless journey through a dark forest?
ADVERTISEMENT
Product Details
BN ID: | 2940161307892 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Purple Tarantula Press |
Publication date: | 12/11/2018 |
Series: | The Ballad of Lyuba and Ivan , #3 |
Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
Format: | NOOK Book |
File size: | 1 MB |
About the Author
Ursula Hartlein, who also writes as Carrie-Anne Brownian, was born on the fifth night of Chanukah in 1979. Though a proud native Pittsburgher, she’s lived most of her life in Upstate New York and has also lived in Pittsfield and Amherst, Massachusetts. She was born in the wrong generation on several fronts, as attested to by a love of silent and early sound film, classic rock and pop, antique cars (particularly Brass Age), classic literature, and history.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from UMass–Amherst in History and Russian and East European Studies. Her areas of historical expertise are Russian history, the World War II/Shoah era, and 20th century American history. Other areas of interest include the American Civil War, Japanese history, the High and Late Middle Ages, prehistory, and Iranian history. Her ultimate goal is to one day have a Ph.D. in Russian history, with a focus on GULAG and the Great Terror.
Her favorite artist is Paul Klee, with whom she’s always been very proud to share her birthday. They were born exactly a century apart. Her favorite band is The Who; her favorite actor is Rudolph Valentino; her favorite comedians are Laurel and Hardy; and her favorite writer is Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. Her favorite holidays are Halloween and Yom Kippur.
She is the author of And Jakob Flew the Fiend Away, a Bildungsroman set from 1940–46; its sequel, And the Lark Arose from Sullen Earth, set from 1946–47; You Cannot Kill a Swan: The Love Story of Lyuba and Ivan, a sweeping saga set from 1917–24; The Twelfth Time: Lyuba and Ivan on the Rocks, its sequel, set from 1924–30; Journey Through a Dark Forest: Lyuba and Ivan in the Age of Anxiety, a four-volume saga spanning 1933–48; and And Aleksey Lived, an alternative historical saga about the greatest Tsar who never ruled. Under her other pen name, she is the author of Little Ragdoll: A Bildungsroman, a contemporary historical family saga set from 1959–74, and has had work published in the anthologies Campaigner Challenges 2011; Overcoming Adversity: An Anthology for Andrew; How I Found the Write Path; The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Guide to Publishing and Beyond; and The Cat Who Chose Us and Other Cat Stories.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from UMass–Amherst in History and Russian and East European Studies. Her areas of historical expertise are Russian history, the World War II/Shoah era, and 20th century American history. Other areas of interest include the American Civil War, Japanese history, the High and Late Middle Ages, prehistory, and Iranian history. Her ultimate goal is to one day have a Ph.D. in Russian history, with a focus on GULAG and the Great Terror.
Her favorite artist is Paul Klee, with whom she’s always been very proud to share her birthday. They were born exactly a century apart. Her favorite band is The Who; her favorite actor is Rudolph Valentino; her favorite comedians are Laurel and Hardy; and her favorite writer is Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. Her favorite holidays are Halloween and Yom Kippur.
She is the author of And Jakob Flew the Fiend Away, a Bildungsroman set from 1940–46; its sequel, And the Lark Arose from Sullen Earth, set from 1946–47; You Cannot Kill a Swan: The Love Story of Lyuba and Ivan, a sweeping saga set from 1917–24; The Twelfth Time: Lyuba and Ivan on the Rocks, its sequel, set from 1924–30; Journey Through a Dark Forest: Lyuba and Ivan in the Age of Anxiety, a four-volume saga spanning 1933–48; and And Aleksey Lived, an alternative historical saga about the greatest Tsar who never ruled. Under her other pen name, she is the author of Little Ragdoll: A Bildungsroman, a contemporary historical family saga set from 1959–74, and has had work published in the anthologies Campaigner Challenges 2011; Overcoming Adversity: An Anthology for Andrew; How I Found the Write Path; The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Guide to Publishing and Beyond; and The Cat Who Chose Us and Other Cat Stories.