White Road: A Russian Odyssey, 1919-1923

by Olga Ilyin

“WHITE ROAD” is an enthralling slice of personal history that chronicles the onset of the Russian Revolution, follows the path of retreat of the White army, and involves us in the chaos, disarray, and horrifying difficulties that beset the Whites and establish new lives as exiles abroad. Olga Ilyin was a young bride at the time the Revolution broke out her husband an officer in the White army. Their background recalls the world of Turgenev’s novels moved forward into the twentieth century. Members of the upper class and the intelligentsia not unaware or undesirous of social change, they were supporters of the Provisional Government. But as Lenin and the Bolshevik forces triumphed whether one was a moderate or a monarchist no longer mattered. This was class war with a vengeance. The Whites had no choice but to flee for their lives—literally—and the story Mrs. Ilyin tells is utterly fascinating and sometimes horrifying. The zigzag journey across Siberia is brought alive in all its hardships and unexpected brief pleasures. WHITE ROAD is altogether a mixture of heroism, fear, and nostalgia recollections. The author is a woman in her eighties of indomitable spirit and innate intelligence and must be one of the last living witnesses to the events she describes so vividly. -from dust jacket flap, 1984

Genres: History, Russia

316 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[A.L. Sowards · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir was written by a woman who survived the Russian Civil War. Her husband was an officer in the White Army, so she and her baby followed him across Siberia until they were cut off by the Reds. It’s a useful first-hand account of life as a camp follower and life in the Soviet Union during the early years. Her family were members of the intelligentsia, so the Communists weren’t too kind to them. She relied on her faith to carry her through difficult times into better times.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books of all time. Ilyin is a wonderful writer, really bringing her story alive. The fact that it's a true story is breathtaking. She fled Russia across Siberia with her baby. One scene in particular stays in my mind - her reaching a bonfire in the midst of the snowy wilderness, and her friend taking the baby to feed it. The friend took a spoonful of boiling hot porridge and brought it to the baby's lips. Olga cried out, but the friend showed her that the air was so frigid that the porridge was only barely warm having traveled from the bowl to the baby. I read this book more than 25 years ago, and still remember that scene. It's on my shelf full of my favorite books - the books that mean the most to me.

[Michelle Ule · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books; gloriously romantic, full of drama, beautifully written by a poet. The story is almost unimagineable and gorgeously rendered by a sensitive aristocratic woman trying to keep up with her White Officer husband during the Bolshevic revolution.

If you liked Dr. Zhivago, you'll love this one.

[Kathleen Fowler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This personal account of one aristocratic young woman's escape across Russia in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution is a gem. It is a gripping tale of adventure, an absorbing slice of history, and a fascinating glimpse into the attitudes and idiosyncrasies of a segment of Russian society that has ceased to exist. I found the author and her companions, who were mostly friends and relatives, to be courageous and resourceful, yet also maddeningly self-absorbed and petty. Comic relief is provided by Panna, the snobbish and crotchety nursemaid to the author's infant son. I have read this book many times, particularly in the dead of winter as the snow falls, willingly entering this world of trains frozen to the tracks, of ten-hour journeys by sleigh through a landscape of ice, of sleepless nights spent crowded onto the floor of a peasant's warm, but stinking hut. I will most certainly read it many more times.

[Nutri · Rating 5 out of 5]

The White Road is a memoir of a young mother estranged from the life of luxury, beauty and poetry that she grew up in, and thrown into a hopeless and desperate journey to outrun the Red Army hunting down the prewar nobility. With her husband Igor being a White army officer during the I World War, together with the families of his regiment and her Polish servant Panna Krylocka she was forced to follow a similar path with their young son in her arms, escaping certain death countless times.

The book is filled with haunting descriptions of the beautiful and harsh Siberian winter; the refugees clinging to hope and spirituality, desperately searching for some meaning in the senseless world, despite the daily Bolshevik terrors and the cruelties of the Red Army towards the refugees.

Having recently read another wartime memoir by a survivor of the Armenian genocide in Turkey which happened during the same period, I couldn’t help but ponder about the similarities and differences of those stories and the experiences of the displaced people during the world wars. Reading such priceless accounts while living through a time of relative peace is a surreal experience.