Be My Wolff: A novelA nimble, extraordinarily moving novel about a sister and adopted brother with a one-of-a-kind connection Zachariah and Rachel Wolff are brother and sister. Well, not exactly. They are star-crossed lovers. Well, not exactly. Rachel is the cherished daughter born to a Russian family living in London, and Zachariah is her parents' adopted son, who arrived from the orphanage with one sweater, a head of rambunctious curls, and a dexterous set of fists, or fives, as he likes to call them. As children, they were as close as two people could be. But when they crossed this forbidden line, there was no going back. Now, as an adult, coping with Zach's estrangement from their formidable father, Rachel is determined to invent a family history for her beloved. And so the novel cartwheels through Zach's imagined ancestry--from a tavern-educated boxer in Dickensian times to a Hussar at the Battle of Borodino during the Napoleonic Wars. All the while, Zach and Rachel's troubles in the present are building to a new point of no return. Filled with art and science, fairy tales and folk songs, tsars and foundlings, epic battles in the prize ring and on the Eastern Front, Be My Wolff is a novel of astonishing range and imagination: a love story, an exuberant adventure through time and place, a tale of our most unbreakable bonds. |
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Common terms and phrases
adds Aleksei arms asks Zach Aubry Baba Yaga battle Belcher bloody blow blue bones Borodino boxer boxing brother calls Camden Camden Town Cribb cutman Daniel Mendoza Dickens dream Dutch Sam Ekaterina exclaims eyes father feels fellow fight fighter Finchley Common fingers fish Foundling Hospital fucking Gardens hands head hear Hussar Izzy Jack Jack Broughton Jem Belcher Jonah the Needle Jones Katya Lake Vostok laughs listen London look Mama Moscow Natasha never Nicky Papa Petersburg Prize Ring Rach Rattus Rattus norvegicus remember replies round Russian Sam’s Sandbag says Rachel says Tasha says Zach Shaw singing sister smell smiles song Sorry Souls spoffish Spring Stephenson's Rocket Street tell things thinks Thomas Tom Cribb Tom Spring Tsar Tyotya vodka Volya walk watches wine wolf Wolff Yeah Young Dutch Zach's Zachariah Zachashka