A novel inspired by historical events, in which a diary weaves together the lives of three women: a dying Ukranian doctor who befriends Anton Chekov in the 19th century, a modern-day London book editor, and the woman she hires to translate it into English. This historical narrative is framed around fragments of truth: Zinaida was real. Chekhov wrote to his friend Aleksey Suvorin about her, and her stoic acceptance of her fate. He also wrote her obituary.
From the community