Christine Alexanians

Nastasia is the title of my first novel. 

Nastasia is a Russian peasant girl, sent to work for a noble family in Saint Petersburg. When her masters flee the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, Nastasia goes back to her village. Her return is full of danger and tragedies. She marries a peddler, Aliosha, and has two children before she discovers that her husband is not Russian, but a Persian. He takes her to Persia in 1920’s, to live with his Muslim family. She embarks on a journey of enchantment and disappointments, living the life of a foreign wife in a strange and unusual place. Every peaceful period in her life is followed by uncontrollable events which turn her world upside down. Her will to survive is a source of inspiration.

I completed the entire manuscript while attending the UCLA Extension Writer’s Program, where I had the opportunity to work with great authors, Linda Palmer and Stephanie Waxman.