James Evans

A ménage à trois that worked: Ivan Turgenev and the Viardots

The Russian novelist doted on the singer Pauline Viardot. But the affair cooled to friendship when he moved in with her and her kind-hearted husband Louis

issue 05 October 2019
  • Comments

  • The Europeans: Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture

    Orlando Figes

    Allen Lane, pp. 551, £30

GIF Image

Disagree with half of it, enjoy reading all of it

TRY 3 MONTHS FOR $5
Our magazine articles are for subscribers only. Start your 3-month trial today for just $5 and subscribe to more than one view

Read next

Trending

Damian Thompson

The extraordinary scale of the crisis facing the next pope

From the magazine
At 9.47 a.m. on Easter Monday we heard the words ‘con profondo dolore’ from a cardinal standing in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta. Two hours earlier, Pope Francis ‘è tornato alla casa del Padre’ – ‘had returned to the house of the Father’. Most people won’t have noticed a curious detail: the cardinal

More on history

Also by James Evans

Latest

Comments

Join the debate for just £1 a month

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.

Already a subscriber? Log in