The Knife Sharpener's Bell

by Rhea Tregebov

Winner of the J.I. Segal 2010 Awards, Prize in English Fiction and Poetry on a Jewish Theme Shortlisted for the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards, Fiction Annette Gershon and her family try to escape the economic chaos of the Great Depression in 1930s Winnipeg by returning "home" to the Soviet Union. But there they find themselves on a runaway train of tumultuous events as Stalinist Russia plunges into the horrors of World War II. This story of remarkable breadth and extraordinary prose is the seldom-told tale of those who undertook that odyssey, of loyalty and betrayal, heroism and fear.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Book Club, Canada

325 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 2009

About the author

Rhea Tregebov is the acclaimed author of eight collections of poetry. Her most recent, Talking to Strangers, won the 2024 Canadian Jewish Literary Award for poetry and was long-listed for the Al Eurithe Purdy Poetry prize. In addition to her poetry, she has published two novels, Rue des Rosiers (2019) and The Knife Sharpener’s Bell (2009). She is also the author of five popular children’s picture books including The Big Storm and What-If Sara, which are set in Winnipeg. She has edited ten anthologies of essays, poetry and fiction, most recently Arguing with the Storm. Her work has received a number of literary prizes, including the Tiny Torgi award (for The Big Storm) as well as the Pat Lowther Award, Prairie Schooner Readers’ Choice Award, and the Malahat Review Long Poem Award for her poetry.

Born in Saskatoon and raised in Winnipeg, Rhea Tregebov received her undergraduate education in Winnipeg. She did postgraduate studies at Cornell and Boston Universities.

For many years she worked as a freelance writer and editor in Toronto, where she also taught creative writing for Ryerson Continuing Education. She was an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia, where she taught poetry and translation until her retirement in 2017. She is now an Associate Professor Emerita.

From the Author:

Talking to Strangers is a book of bracing encounters. Throughout her four decades as poet, Rhea Tregebov has displayed an uncommon eye for the mysteries of ordinary life—moments where, as she writes, “[t]he simplest things / elude me.” This gift is brought to brilliant effect in her eighth book of poetry and most charged to date. In gorgeous arias of recollection and evocation, of elegy and heartbreak, Tregebov mourns, praises, prays, regrets, summons, celebrates, and bears witness with formidable artistry and tenderness (“You wouldn’t think the inanimate would get tired /but it does.”) Direct, never forced, keenly observant, and marked by scrupulous craft, these new poems unfold in beguiling, often breathtaking ways. They confirm Tregebov’s place among the most significant poets of her generation.

Reviews

[Kirstin Dobson]

4.5: Great book and would liked to have given it a 5, but just a little less than perfectly clear sequentially for that.

[Darrell Gruber]

I found the slightly different angle on the horrors of being a Jew in the WWII and postwar era very interesting, and the perspective of a young Jewish girl was also very sad but interesting. I just felt Annette’s prison visit to Vladimir and all that transpired there was weird, and for me it spoiled the story.

[Sheri-lee]

This book went on my to read list when it was published (2009 ... ahem) and I just got around to it. I saw an article on it and thought it looked interesting ... and I’m a Winnipegger. 🙂

It’s funny to me the timing of my reading it as I just finished reading some Andrei Makine placing this in a seemingly Russian historical fiction phase. Ha.

I would easily rank this as high as Makine, who is amazing. It’s also similar in style — is that a Russian trait? I was close to giving it a 5 but there were a couple of spots that felt redundant and editing should have caught it. Is that me being too picky? Perhaps.

It is a great book.

[Susan]

Great book. I could not put it down and read it straight thru on the flight back from New York. One of the best I have read this year.

[Cindy]

Very compelling ending. This book made me very glad my grandmother left Russia during the Revolution--and never wanted to return.

[Amy Mathers]

http://amysmarathonofbooks.ca/the-kni...

[Bim Trandt]

altho i had a wee struggle getting into it, this story proved well worth it.
i was intrigued by a family from Winnipeg moving "back" behind the iron curtain -
and the concept of a protagonist longing for Winnipeg was sweet, but also the description of life in Odessa and then Moscow from the late 30s to 1950s was very interesting to me
Very Good

[Megan]

I was enjoying this book but ran out of time to finish it before the book club meeting. Hoping to get back to it again. I'm going to recommend this book to my grandmother, who has family from Odessa.

[Erin]

Skimmed most of it; the last quarter was a bit more interesting. Also there was a samovar.

[Sharon Plumb]

I found this book captivating, at least once I got into it. I have never read a book about this particular part of Russian history, even though I have read other historical novels set in Russia. The book felt so real that I forgot it was a novel and thought it was a memoir until I read the acknowledgements at the back. I loved how details from the beginning became important, even pivotal, in the later events. I also loved the lyrical language and was not surprised to discover that the author is also a poet.

[Diane]

Another piece of history that I had never heard of. A family of Russian Jewish immigrants to Canada returns to Russia in the 1930's (apparently there was a group of immigrants who returned). The story is told by a surviving family member. The war and the Russian state is definitely part of the story, but the real story is about the family - about leaving and being left and being part of a family. The story is okay, but Tregebov's writing is exquisite.

[Corinne Wasilewski]

I loved this book! The writing was beautiful, the plot flawlessly executed and the primary theme effectively played out to the very end of the story; a theme that involves home and belonging including the desire to possess the people one loves and make them one's "home".

[Nikki Vogel]

Tregabov's poetic sensibilities shine throughout this story about the human will to survive and find happiness.