Russian Beauty

Russian Beauty is a novel written by Russian author Victor Erofeyev.

Publication

Russian Beauty was released in Russia in 1990, and then translated into more than 20 languages. It was published in France under the title « La Belle de Moscou » in 1991, and in English one year later.

Summary

Beautiful and seemingly perfect Irina Tarakanova relates the story of an erotic odyssey that takes her from a passionate adventure with the father of her unborn child to caring lesbian affairs with her best friend.
She tells the story of her life, focusing on her sexuality and erotic experiences in an intensely explicit manner.

Reception

In 1992, the British newspaper The Independent called Erofeyev "the exuberant new iconoclast of Russian literature." Noting the novel's sexual frankness, the paper added, "Victor Erofeyev's book, Russian Beauty, gives new impact to the phrase 'the Russians are coming'."

In other media

The novel was filmed by an Italian producer but was considered by the author as "unsuccessful".