Irina

Romania is a true cultural melting pot, rooted in Greek and Turkish traditions in the south, Hungarian and Saxon in the north and Slavic in the east and west. Carapathia, the first book from food stylist and cooking enthusiast Irina Georgescu, aims to introduce readers to Romania's bold, inventive and delicious cuisine. Bringing the country to life with stunning photography and recipes, it will take the reader on a culinary journey to the very heart of the Balkans, exploring it's history and landscape through it's traditions and food. From fragrant pilafs, sour borsch and hearty stews, to intricate and moreish desserts, this book celebrates the dishes from a culture living at the crossroads of eastern and western traditions.

Irina’s Story is the history of the Uspensky family and its attempt to negotiate the perils of 20th century Russia. It begins in the twilight years of the Tsarist empire in the idyllic setting of the family’s country home at Babushkino, and describes a world which is destroyed by war, revolution and Stalin’s terror, and ends with the fall of communism and the beginning of a new Russia of gangsters and crony-capitalism. At the age of 90, Irina Uspenskaya is the last surviving witness of these events. In her Moscow apartment, while her young relative Slavochka and his friends in “the International Syndicate” aspire to become successful drug dealers, Irina collects the letters and diaries of her parents’ generation and sets down the tale of what happened to them all. In turn she describes the doomed marriage of her father Nikolai and her mother Xenia, who love but never understand each other; her idealistic aunt Adalia, who marries the sinister Grodsky; her disreputable uncle Alexander and his feisty wife Tatiana. These and a host of other colourful characters populate the story and we see their world through their eyes and understand it through their thoughts and writings. Our guide, Irina is wry, funny, insightful and humane. Born with a disability, she views events through detached yet sympathetic eyes and reflects on her own history and her unrequited love for a boy she met as a little girl and the family and children she will never have. Irina’s Story is told with verve, compassion and a command of the sweep of Russian history. It is at times funny, romantic, tragic and appalling, but suffused throughout with deep humanity.

Irina's Eye was chosen as Semi-Finalist in the 2006 William Faulkner Writing Competition for Unpublished Novels-- ""Bohemian border with Bavaria, West Germany, 1948-- He should have known. If only he had trusted his intuition. That was the problem, telling the difference between intuition and fear, and he was not about to give into fear. There was no time; they had to flee and it had to be in that moment or they might never have another opportunity. They ran into the night."" -- Vaclav and Irina, both age fifteen, flee from behind the Iron Curtain. Irina is shot in the back and falls. He goes to help her but as he takes her in his arms another bullet enters her head and at that moment she orders him ""Go!."" He puts her down gently and runs. He reaches West Germany, then he travels to Rome and to New York in his quest for enlightenment and freedom from the guilt that haunts him for his soulmate Irina's fate.

Irina hates space pirates. They killed her brother when they were kids. She still misses him like hell. So she became an agent of the Stellar Intelligence Service to avenge him. And now, she finally has her plan in place to end that scourge for once and all and get her revenge. Except things are not quite as they seem… and they get worse quickly. Read that action-packed short story now!

"The Imperial Wife is a smart, engaging novel that parallels two fascinating worlds and two singular women. Irina Reyn writes beautifully of immigrants, art and the vagaries of love". --Jess Walter, National Book Award finalist and author of the New York Times bestseller, Beautiful Ruins Two women's lives collide when a priceless Russian artifact comes to light. Tanya Kagan, a rising specialist in Russian art at a top New York auction house, is trying to entice Russia's wealthy oligarchs to bid on the biggest sale of her career, The Order of Saint Catherine, while making sense of the sudden and unexplained departure of her husband. As questions arise over the provenance of the Order and auction fever kicks in, Reyn takes us into the world of Catherine the Great, the infamous 18th-century empress who may have owned the priceless artifact, and who it turns out faced many of the same issues Tanya wrestles with in her own life. Suspenseful and beautifully written, The Imperial Wife asks whether we view female ambition any differently today than we did in the past. Can a contemporary marriage withstand an “Imperial Wife”?

Winner, 2016 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Fiction Finalist, 2016 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize The stories in Specimen are a unique exploration of science and the human heart; the place where physical reality collides with our spiritual and emotional lives. In “The Blood Keeper,” a young academic travels to North Korea to work on her dissertation and embarks on a dangerous affair. In “Mamochka,” which was nominated for the 2012 Journey Prize, an archivist at the Institute for Physics in Minsk, must come to terms with her daughter’s marriage to a Chinese man in Vancouver. In “Peptide P,” scientists study a disease that seems to affect children after they eat hotdogs. In “Side Effects,” a woman’s personality is altered, and not necessarily for the better, by botox injections. In “The Big One,” a woman and her daughter find themselves trapped in the rubble of an underground parking garage after an earthquake. Stylistically varied and with settings that range from North Korea and Minsk to Vancouver and Gdansk, Kovalyova is daring and confident new voice in Canadian fiction.

Top model and musician Irina Lazareanu decrypts the essence of rock ’n’ roll chic, taking cues from her coterie of friends from the fashion and music worlds. If you could saunter down the runway and slip backstage on the heels of Irina Lazareanu, who would you meet, what antics would ensue, and what on earth would you wear? Irina—Karl Lagerfeld’s muse, Kate Moss’s BFF, and Peter Doherty’s former fiancée—introduces you to her inner circle—models, fashion designers, editors, Hollywood starlets, and rockers—to pilfer the secrets of their individually cool and universally coveted rock ‘n’ roll style. She shares fashion tips from her fellow runway birds and offers insight from her work with designers including Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs, and Nicolas Ghesquière, as well as with fashion professionals like Edward Enninful and Inez & Vinoodh. Irina includes killer looks from friends such as Sean Lennon, Yoko Ono, Hedi Slimane, Lindsay Lohan, Mark Ronson, and the late Amy Winehouse. She details a host of wardrobe tips and essentials, including dos and don’ts for creating your own folk, retro, punk, or glam rock look. In scrapbook collages and lively anecdotes from her life on the fashion and concert circuits, the captivating Romanian-Canadian top model and singer shares showstopping sartorial nuggets that will give your threads—and attitude—a rock ‘n’ roll edge.