Customer Reviews

Weather of the Heart: A Child's Journey Out of Revolutionary Russia

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Nora Percival began her life as a pampered, well-loved child in Samara, Russia, on the banks of the Volga River. Her father was a businessman, her mother a talented pianist. Her early years were fun and happy, and Nora was a bubbly, curious child. Soon, though, upheaval overtook her life with the advent of the Russian Revolution. Nora's father, targeted by the Communist regime, escaped to America, leaving behind Nora and her mother, a woman in fragile health who suffered from depression. The two were forced to move in with Nora's grandparents, aunts, uncle, and cousins in a small apartment, where food and heat were scarce. Everyone, from the wealthy to the poorest, suffered during this time. Starvation was rampant and Nora's family became alarmed when first small domestic animals disappeared, then small children. Nora's father finally managed to get funds to the family, and eventually Nora and her mother sailed to America. But Nora's mother's homesickness sent them back across the ocean, only as far as England, where Nora's mother was hospitalized and Nora ended up first in a work house, then in a hostel for transmigrates, where she anxiously awaited word from her father and longed to be back in America.

What an interesting, wonderful story. Nora is a prodigious child who learns to read at an early age and teaches herself English. Her effervescent personality shines throughout the book, and one feels sorrow for such a young girl forced to live in horrific depravity, while taking on adult responsibilities and caring for her mother, whose depression never lessens. Percival excels at drawing the reader into her story with rich descriptives and prolific insight enmeshed within a period of history that is as fascinating as it is tragic. Historic buffs will appreciate a first-hand look at the events leading up to the Russian Revolution as well as those during and after. Excellent book. Highly recommended.

I happened upon Nora Percival in Valle Crucis, NC where she was signing her books. I feel so lucky to have personnally autographed copies of her books and a photo of me with her. Nora Percival is as captivating in person as she is in her story.
"Weather of the Heart" is wildly educational, exciting and inspiring, a study in optomisism. I literally could not put it down: I carried it from room to room and took it with me if I left the house. When I finished reading the book, I missed Nora the child because I found her so charming; WHAT A GIRL!! What a book!

From beginning to end I was caught in the poignant details of this story. The Russian Revolution is brought to life through the individuals who face poverty, uncertainty, and constant changes in their circumstances. Whether people are poor, middle class, or wealthy, they are thrown together in difficult, often dangerous situations. Nora Percival fills the pages with family members who are at times wise and courageous only to later be petty and weak, each one trying to survive in a world that no longer makes any sense and which never stands still long enough to build new understandings about how to respond. Nora's free spirit in the midst of this chaos is a constant inspiration. As a young child and into her teens she tends to her mother who is depressed and unable to find the energy required by this newly restricted environment. Though her mother often becomes tiresome, Nora continues to persevere, giving of her own strength to keep her mother afloat. When Nora finally comes to America the reader comes with her, feeling Nora's celebration of freedom and a chance for a new life.

This book details the events that brought an immigrant family to safe harbor in the US after escape from the Russian revolution. The viewpoint is that of a young girl, just 3 years old at the beginning of the story. This young girl is the only daughter of a bourgeoisie family. Her father left the farm as a penniless young man, and through his own enterprise came to own a small shoe factory in Samara. As the revolution takes hold, Percival's father is named as a criminal against society because of his social standing, and he is forced to flee to Manchuria, leaving his wife and daughter behind. Percival describes to us how she and her mother gradually lose their life of relative luxury and ease, how their German governess fled, and how they had to abandon their home and move in with her paternal grandparents. The circumstances that follow develop her into a mature young woman by the time the main narrative ends when she is 8 years old and living in New York City.

Occasionally, especially in the first chapter, Percival's writing style can be a little annoying. Nevertheless, the story that she has to tell is riveting. She provides unique details of the daily life of ordinary people in the time just before, during, and after the Russian revolution. She also tells us much about the conditions and rules faced by immigrants to the US during the early part of the 20th century.

This memorable book gives us the memoirs of an 88 year old first time novelist, Nora Lourie Percival. This is far and away the best book I have read in years. It is an interesting and compelling story of a child growing up in and then escaping from Communist Russia. It is wonderfully written and historically significant. The rich descriptive narrative is a pleasure to read and to hear read (my husband and I read it aloud to one another). I found myself continually rereading passages purely for the purpose of savoring the author's exquisite use of language; I have read few contemporary writers whose use of language is as skillful and as sensitive as is this writer's. This is a book to be added to the family library and to be re-read throughout the years. It is an absorbing, heartbreaking and uplifting true story of a child and her family's survival of the Russian Revolution. The reader is grabbed by the first pages and his interest is held throughout. I've bought several to give as gifts. I would recommend it to anyone! It is truly marvelous.

Nora Percival's book vies with Frank McCourt's book as an honest, heart-wrenching memoir. It is a book every American needs to read and it one of the finest books of this decade.

One of the finest books of the decade is Nora Percival's "Weather of the Heart." It vies with Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes" accurate heart-wrenching memoir. Mrs. Percival's account of her escape from Revolutionary Russia, as a child of eight, is a book every American needs to read.