Irina Zhorov comes to Riverstone Books for a discussion with local author Catherine Gammon about her debut novel, LOST BELIEVERS, the immersive and striking story of a meeting between two women from very different worlds in 1970s Soviet Russia.
In this novel inspired by true events, the chance encounter between an ambitious scientist and a deeply religious homesteader on the plains of Siberia will profoundly alter the course of both their lives–and call into question long-held beliefs.
Galina is a talented young geologist from Moscow who has been sent by the government to explore minerals in the Siberian taiga for potential mining to service the state’s relentless pursuit of industrial progress. Agafia is the eldest daughter of a family of Old Believers–a persecuted sect of Eastern Orthodox Christians who have sought refuge in this remote corner of the earth. When Galina and her pilot (soon-to-be-lover) Snow Crane stumble upon Agafia’s family home one day during the region’s fleeting summer season, their meeting sets in motion an unforgettable series of events. Soon, Galina finds herself questioning the mission she has been assigned and its impact on the surrounding environment, while Agafia ponders a life beyond the isolation she was raised to believe sacred. And Snow Crane, who will come to play an important role in both women’s lives, harbors a long-held secret of his own.
Meanwhile, Galina must contend with a rocky relationship with her father, a Soviet bureaucrat distrustful of her career aspirations and romantic choices, while Agafia grapples with the sacrifices of loved ones and a longing for community. As the long shadow of the Stalin era lingers in ways both seen and unseen, both women face difficult choices, intriguing possibilities, and uncertain futures. A dramatic and revealing exploration of fate, aspiration, and Soviet politics, Lost Believers is a fascinating and unforgettable story.
Irina Zhorov was born in Uzbekistan, in the Soviet Union, and moved to Philadelphia on the eve of its dissolution. After failing to make use of a geology degree she received an MFA from the University of Wyoming. She’s worked as a journalist for more than a decade, reporting primarily on environmental issues.
Catherine Gammon is author of the novel The Martyrs, The Lovers, and a new collection, The Gunman and the Carnival, forthcoming from Baobab Press in 2024. Catherine’s previous novels are China Blue, Sorrow, and Isabel Out of the Rain. From 1992 through 2000, Catherine taught in the MFA writing program of the University of Pittsburgh, before leaving for residential Zen training at San Francisco Zen Center, where she was ordained a priest in 2005. She lives again in Pittsburgh, with her garden and her cat.