Natasha Borovsky (Russian: Наталья Александровна Боровская)(August 5, 1924 – May 31, 2012) was a Russian American poet and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

. She is the author of two celebrated works of historical fiction spanning the first half of the twentieth century. Borovsky writes about the shattering effect of war on families and the decline of the European aristocracy. Her first novel ''A Daughter of the Nobility'' was translated into ten languages, including Russian and Polish. Her second, ''Lost Heritage'', is a sequel with new characters, completing a drama that began during the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

and ends at the time of the

Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...

Life

Borovsky was born in Paris to the renowned Russian pianist,

Alexander Borovsky Alexander Borovsky (Borowsky) (1889-1968), a Russian-American pianist, was born in Mitau, Russia. His first piano teacher was his mother, a pupil of Vasily Safonov. He completed his studies at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1912 with a gold med ...

and her mother, Maria Sila-Nowicki, was of noble Polish and Russian descent. She spent winters and summers at her mother's family estate near

Kazimierz Dolny Kazimierz Dolny () is a small historic town in eastern Poland, on the right (eastern) bank of the Vistula river in Puławy County, Lublin Voivodeship. Historically it belongs to Lesser Poland, and in the past it was one of the most important citie ...

, south of Warsaw. She went to school in Germany, Switzerland and France. Forced to leave France at the outset of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she came with her mother to the United States where she spent two years at

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...

and where her extraordinary language skills landed her a job translating wartime broadcasts from around the world for CBS News. She worked at the

Office of War Information The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a United States government agency created during World War II. The OWI operated from June 1942 until September 1945. Through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and other ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and at the

Hoover Institute The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, and ...

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

's library and research facilities in Paris. Borovsky married Stuart Dodds, an editor/general manager of the syndication division of the ''San Francisco Chronicle''; they lived together in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

Awards

* 1986

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

for ''A Daughter of the Nobility''

Works

Poetry

* ''Under the rainbow: and related poems'' * ''Drops of glass: poems, in major and minor, new forms and old'' Tabula Rasa Press, 1981 * ''Desert Spring: Poems'', with sketches by Malou Knappp (1993). Berkeley, CA: Sila Nova Press. pp. 59. * ''Grasp the Subtle Lifeline'' with drawings by her daughter Malou.

Novels

* *

References

External links

"Author's website"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borovsky, Natasha 1924 births 2012 deaths Sarah Lawrence College alumni Writers from Paris French emigrants to the United States American women poets 20th-century American novelists American women novelists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American poets American Book Award winners Eastern Orthodox Christians from the United States People of the United States Office of War Information French expatriates in Poland French expatriates in Germany French expatriates in Switzerland 21st-century American women