The Tarasov Saga: From Russia Through China to Australia [Paperback]

Gary Nash (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1877058017 | ISBN-13: 978-1877058011 | Publication Date: September 15, 2002

Gary Nash tells the story of his Russian grandparents who suffered the traumas of the Revolution and Civil War. They escaped to China and found their new life shattered by the Japanese invasion. It is a story of courage and determination. Gary was born, of Russian parents in Tiensin. The family were eventually moved to a displaced persons camp in the Philippines and finally reached Australia. Aida, the grandmother, held the family together and eventually they were all in Australia.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gary Nash

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Rosenberg Publishing (September 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1877058017
• ISBN-13: 978-1877058011
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,624,571 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Survival and history, January 14, 2003

By 

Brian Holley (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tarasov Saga: From Russia Through China to Australia (Paperback)

The Tarasov Saga is a very absorbing book, not only because of its account of a remarkable journey over 25 years of the extended Tarasov family, initially fleeing from Russia through China and the Phillipines to Australia, but also for the historical perspective of life in Russia and China in the first half of the 20th century.
I have known the author, both as a work colleague and a friend for over 30 years but, Gary being a very private person, all I knew of his background was that he was of White Russian origin and had lived in China before coming to Australia! The to read this book and discover the astonishing story of all that happened from the time of the Russian Revolution and its effects on the Tarasovs, individually and collectively, until the first of them arrived in Australia in 1949, made for compelling reading.I am not qualified to comment on Gary's literary style or technique, but the way he has portrayed each member of the family, their strengths and their weaknesses brought them to life so that, not only were they believable, but one could visualise their individual contributions to this saga.
This book is about courage, determination and resilience, and what can be achieved by people who are single-minded and motivated to seek a better life after many years of deprivation
and hardship.
In particular, the reader is left in no doubt of the author's great affection and admiration for his Grandmother Aida and her monumental efforts to ensure that the family survived their epic journey and, bar one member, all be reunited in Australia.
I thoroughly commend this book which is not only an enjoyable read but in an age where the refugee problem is a world-wide one, provides an understanding of the hardships and traumas that constantly confront refugees on the move.
It is an intensely human story which reinforces basic values and beliefs, in an era where many consider these things to be unimportant.
It would be nice to think that an enterprising producer might think that there is enough meat and drama in The Tarasov Saga to provide the basis for a film or TV series. It certainly has all the ingredients.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What a family!, October 21, 2003

By 

Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Tarasov Saga: From Russia Through China to Australia (Paperback)

This book details the adventures of a large family as they seek safe haven from communism. In the beginning of the book, the author's mother and father are living in Czarist Russia, where his father is an officer in the army just prior to the outbreak of World War I. The small family grows to five children during the war. As the revolution begins to take hold, the father joins the loyalist White Russians and is dragged further and further east with them. His mother is left to manage alone with the five children. As it became clear that, as White Russians, they were not welcome in the Soviet Union, the mother decides to make her way east with the children, although she had no money and only a vague idea of where her husband might be. After a series of misadventures in which she is forced to leave the children behind, she eventually finds her husband and gets all five children back with her in a city in China that had a large Russian refugee population. The entire family made its home in China for the next twenty years, until a second communist revolution made them refugees once again.

The story is quite well written, with amazing recall of details from long ago adventures. The stories describing everyday life in the Russian refugee communities of pre-Communist China provide a fascinating glimpse into a very little known way of life. On the one hand, it is amazing that the entire large family was able to make it out of Russia and then out of China, but on the other hand, it was precisely because they had so many people working together in the family that made it possible.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Piece Of My Own History, October 27, 2002

By 

Marc Loves Strawberries (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tarasov Saga: From Russia Through China to Australia (Paperback)

This book moved me to tears.

This accurate and highly emotional piece of writing took me right back to my own family's history which is not unlike the Tarasovs. The plight of thousands of Russians including that of my parents began with their fleeing Russia, starting new lives in China only to be uprooted again and forced to find a new home in another part of the world.

In addition to the eloquent writing, the beautiful collection of photographs in this book brought back memories of the places I grew up in and remembered as a young girl. I am very grateful to the Author for such a beautifully written book which will help the world become aware of our true story at last. I highly recommend this book about this tragic and wonderful family and particularly to anyone whose own personal history lies in that part of the globe.