"I would like to speak Russian with you" were among the last words written by Katherine Mansfield. She never went to Russia, but her life-long passion for everything Russian runs through her letters and notebooks in an unbroken thread.
Katya, Katoushka, Kissienka and Katerina were just some of the names that Katherine used at the height of her Russian pose, when she wore Russian dress, smoked Russian cigarettes, attended Russian concerts and embarked on a literary love affair with Chekhov that changed her writing - and her life.
Layered with fascinating detail and rich with accounts of Katherine's flirtations with "Bohemia", 'Katerina' reveals a warm, likeable and vulnerable woman who struggled to find her place in the world of literature and in the lives of the people she loved. At long last, we can view Katherine Mansfield with affection as well as admiration.
