Snow and Sand tells the extraordinary true story of the fate of a Russian family fighting to keep their values against a destructive force that drives them into exile and the unexpected hospitality of an Egyptian king. Author Vicka Markov Surovtsov shares the entire story of her family in three parts, telling the story of her parents prior to leaving Russia, an account of her family's life in Egypt, and a description of her return visit to Russia as an adult. Shortly before the death of her father in 1961, Vicka Markov Surovtsov made a promise to him that she would visit Russia when the Communist regime ended. She had her doubts that the time would ever come, but after the 1991 overthrow of the Soviet Government she is finally able to keep her promise. Both her mother and father kept diaries of their lives, and much of the book is based upon them, along with her own memories. Snow and Sand fulfills her promise to her father and documents her own experiences in present-day Russia.

SNOW AND SAND

By Vicka Markov Surovtsov

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2010 Vicka Markov Surovtsov
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-5057-3

Chapter One

My father, Anatoli Markov, was born in 1894 at the Pokrovskoye Estate into an old established family of Russian gentry, in the fertile province of Kursk, located southeast of Moscow. His grandfather, Evgeni Markov, was a wealthy man. Besides being a well-known writer, he was a banker and the elected Marshal of the Noblemen's Association of Kursk. Evgeni believed that since he gave his four sons an excellent education, they should do very well on their own. And, with that thought in mind, he divided his land equally between them, with instructions to work hard. He left everything else to his wife, his beloved companion.

Leo, my grandfather, was Evgeni's eldest son. He married Victoria Rishkova, my grandmother, in 1888. They had known each other since childhood, as only three miles separated their two estates, which, at that time, qualified them as close neighbors.

Victoria was five years younger than Leo. During summer vacations they were part of a large group of friends who spent a lot of time together. When Victoria was eighteen Leo noticed that she was no longer the awkward teenager he had known, but had blossomed into a dark-eyed beauty. He was in his third year at the engineering school when he fell in love with her the summer she graduated from the Institute for Noble Young Women, in Voronezh.

Leo was not the only one who was attracted to Victoria. Soon he found out that he faced tough competition, for Victoria had already mastered the art of keeping a devoted following of young admirers to do her bidding. At first, she did not take his blushing declarations seriously, but Leo was persistent. He patiently courted her and eventually mustered the courage to ask her to marry him. She laughed at him, but, swayed by Leo's perseverance, gradually started to think about him differently, endowing him with qualities of romantic heroes of her French novels, and finally accepted his proposal. Her mother, who saw Leo Markov as a suitable match for her daughter, encouraged her. Leo wanted to get married right away, but his father insisted that he first finish engineering school.

The Rishkins were a prosperous family of Russian nobility. (In Russian, the masculine and feminine names have to agree, therefore Victoria [fem.] is Rishkova, and the family name [masc.] is Rishkin.) They were related to the Tsar's family through their great-grandmother, the daughter of King Nicholas I of Montenegro. Montenegro was then a tiny kingdom with a very democratic king, chosen to rule by his devoted citizens. He had a slew of daughters whom he was anxious to marry off to Orthodox princes, and Russia, a historic protector of Serbia and Montenegro, was frequently seeking alliances through marriages to suitable princes of foreign-reigning families. Thus, several exotic-looking daughters of King Nicolas I of Montenegro married into the Russian royal family, injecting new turbulent blood into their family line. The Rishkins were influential in Kursk and even today, the Moscow-Kursk train stops at the Rishkino station.

Victoria's education at the prestigious Institute for Noble Young Ladies had prepared her for the typical life of a well-born girl. She was proficient in French and German, played piano quite well, and had read all the novels by Georges Sand. However, while Victoria was indulging in fantasies of her future married life, Leo was faced with a problem of how to earn his living. Russia, at that time, had just completed the occupation of Turkestan, whose reluctant natives were not disposed too favorably towards the Russian forces, who were bent on civilizing them, Russian style. One of the most pressing problems of the Russian authorities was the absence of organized communication between Russia and the newly-acquired territory. A bold project of a network of railways was planned, and Leo applied for the job as railway engineer, rashly promising his bride that a honeymoon in Turkestan was a romantic getaway.

After the wedding, Victoria packed her elegant wardrobe, said good-bye to her family and friends, and off they went to Turkestan, traveling by horse-drawn carriage through the mountain roads. After an exhausting trip of several days, the couple reached a small frontier town in Turkestan, where they were billeted in a native house, conveniently abandoned by its owners. The military barracks were in place when Leo reported for duty, and an orderly was assigned to him to help with household chores. To Victoria's consternation, he was to be the only help around their new home. He was recently conscripted, a lad from a remote Russian village, who had just arrived with his regiment in the newly-occupied territory. No female help was available, as the natives did not allow their womenfolk to have any contact with the Russians.

Leo spent the day in a frustrating effort to learn what he was supposed to do. He arrived home that evening hungry and upset, to find his bride in tears-no food in the house, and a panicky young orderly wondering whether to desert or lie down and die. The newlyweds hadn't thought of taking along any household items, such as pots and pans for cooking. All the rosy stories of the natives welcoming the occupying forces with open arms vanished as the couple contemplated the harsh reality. Neither Leo nor Victoria was prepared for the new life. However, the problem of food took second place to the following events.

After a few months, Victoria realized she was pregnant. She wanted to return home, but winter had already set in and the mountain roads were impassable, so she had to face the fact that she must remain in the Turkestan village. There was no doctor and no women to advise her, and Victoria went through a difficult pregnancy. Alone, with the help of a military male nurse, she gave birth to a stillborn boy, whom she and Leo named Eugene. They buried him under a shady tree in their yard. Leo had been doing some serious thinking for the first time in his life. He came to the conclusion that since he was not about to get any financial help from his wealthy father, he might as well use his brains and think of a way to take care of his family.

Victoria, grieving for her lost child, was about to give up on life when Leo told her that he was going to resign from his job and that they would return to Russia. She was delighted to hear that their ordeal was over and she would be returning to her family and friends. Although still mourning for her son, her natural optimism took over and she was looking forward to their departure. A month later, Leo and Victoria traveled back to Russia. The return journey was as difficult as the arrival, but this time, Victoria was immersed in thoughts of happy reunions, while Leo was weighing the possibilities of developing the Pokrovskoye Estate, where Eugene had retired. He hoped to convince his father to let him have a free hand in modernizing the family estate.

Upon their return, Victoria's indifference to all that pertained to the practical aspects of living only increased as time passed. It was not unusual for girls of her class to be mainly interested in the lighter facets of life, such as giving parties, hunts and picnics. Leo secretly hoped that she would show more interest in the running of their household, which she left to the servants. (In those almost feudal days, both Leo's and Victoria's families being very wealthy, it was not uncommon for in-laws to share their peasants with newlyweds. It was considered part of the dowry.) Leo...