The Fountain of Tears
(Paperback)
Publishing Details
The Fountain of Tears
By (Author) Stephanie De Montalk
Te Herenga Waka University Press
Victoria University Press
9th January 2006
New Zealand
Classifications
General
Fiction
821.92
Physical Properties
Paperback
220
Description
An alternative view of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkins 600-line verse tale, "The Fountain at Bakhchisaray" comes to life in this spellbinding historical fiction novel. A tale of a Tatar khan's impossible love for a captive Polish countess in his Crimean harem is interwoven with stories from the life of the poet Pushkin in 1821, exploring links between distance, imagination, and memory. It follows the young Polish countess Maria Potocka through her abduction from her fathers estate by Tatars during a slave raid, to her time languishing in the harem in the palace at Bakhchisaray, to her death before the Tatar khan could win her love. In his grief, the khan erects the Fountain of Tears, a monument to Maria that still stands.
Author Bio
Stephanie de Montalk is a poet with three published poetry collections, including Animals Indoors, which won the NZSA Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry at the 2001 The Montana NZ Book Awards, Cover Stories, and The Scientific Evidence of Dr Wang.
