A writer can sometimes live in the shadows of what they write. For some people they may base their opinions of the personality of the writer from his books, essays and other creations. And at times, a writer success is also dependent on that. With technology blazing nowadays, there are a lot of books which were made into movies, series, and other forms of media; however, it is indeed true that it is only from a book that a reader will feel the full civilizing force of literature. Books which behold a reader into a trance such as this are history books. One historian known for successfully enrapturing his readers into the world of chaos, war, love, passion, survival, hardships and reality is Orlando Figes, a British historian passionate about Russian history, culture and society.
He has written a lot of books which showcased his passion for Soviet Union, for its people and the events that shaped and molded the super nation into what it is today. In his books “Peasant Russia, Civil War: The Volga Countryside in Revolution”, “A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution”, “Natasha’s Dance”, “The Whisperers” and “Crimea: The Last Crusade”are all stories from history which he has carefully excavated from libraries, chroniclers, witnesses, interviews and even from word of mouth just to capture the complete detailed and imaginative account of what has really transpired from the past. Orlando Figes specialized in the events which took place in Russia and how it affected the people in the country.
Meanwhile, in his latest book “Just Send Me Word”, which is to be released this year, is still a story which took place in Russia during the war. However, what sets this book different from the previous ones is that it centered on a love story which was torn apart by the Gulag. He based this story from the cache of letter found in Moscow exchanged between two lovers Lev and Svetlana who expressed their love with each other in form of 1,500 letters which were smuggled in and out of the Pechora labour camp for more than eight years. In this book, Figes aims to pass on the amazing and eye-opening tale of two lovers who decided to continue transcending their love despite the perils of survival in a world interspersed with war and chaos.
If books were the main indicator of a writer’s success, Orlando Figes has made quite a historical and colorful yet blinding tale which never fails to smite his readers in between pages. It is indeed true that people may forget a person, but they will never forget how he made them feel.