An Expendable Soul

Move over Turgenev and Dostoevsky!

In 1891, 27-year-old Maria Rodziewiczówna put pen to paper to record her experiences as a political exile in Siberia: the severity and beauty of nature, the extraordinary life of the steppe, the daily struggle to survive, and the fates of the exiles: some withering and dying, some barely eking out a living, and some adapting, thriving and even--finding love.

The book's message of hope in the face of great adversity, the mysterious figure of The Shaman, and the special sense of "being there," evoked with extraordinary beauty and economy of words have kept the book permanently in print for 130 years.

The first English translation of the book, published in 1900, has faded away. The current new translation updates the style and corrects many mistakes and omissions, giving us the first accurate and highly readable English version of this great and timeless classic.

If you love great literature and beautiful prose, you will love this.

The Author

Maria Rodziewiczówna (1863-1944) was one of the most prolific and successful Polish authors of her times and nearly all her books remain popular and in print today. She was born into a gentry family, which, for its participation in the 1863 uprising against Russia was exiled to Siberia.

She was raised in very difficult circumstances and was entirely self-taught beyond sixth grade.

Coming of age, she inherited a heavily indebted country estate, cut her hair short, assumed man's clothing, and took over the management of the farm, at which she proved very successful.

She modernized production, drained marshes, built roads, and schools, and clinics, paid off all debt.

And throughout, she wrote novels: 46 of them, of which most remain in print today because of their beautiful literary style and her sympathetic view of human nature.