Vladimir asked Janet Fitch:

Dear Mrs. Fitch, I would not ask you about your internal connections to St. Peterburg arising from your study in this amazing city and from your visit in 2007: it is a needless question. I spent my student's years from 1964 till 1969 in Leningrad and could guess your positive answer. To be a little bit more specific: Have you found some shades and spirits of Dostoyevsky there?

Janet Fitch Hi Vladimir! I guess I"m working backwards! Yes, I did find shades and spirits of Dostoyevsky! My poets in THE REVOLUTION OF MARINA M. live in the Dostoyevsky district (Grivtsova Alley), and when I was there in 2009 I was actually invited to give a talk on my project at the Dostoyevsky House Museum, which includes the apartment where he lived while he was working on The Double and later, where he wrote The Brothers Karamazov. If you go to my website, www.janetfitchwrites.com, and go into the Extras at the bottom of the Marina M. page, you'll see the black clock in his apartment which shows the time and date of his death. I also used his apartment in my novel--my character Varvara lives there in part of the book.

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