Frank Reid is a struggling printer in Moscow. On the eve of the Revolution, his wife returns to her native England, leaving him to raise their thre...
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Dec 27, 2011
Dorian
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The best book I read in 2011 was published in 1988. I'd read Fitzgerald before and found her interesting but not especially compelling. Thank goodness I read about this on a "best of the year list" at the redoubtable Millions website. I happened to have a copy on the shelf and was amazed and delighted with what I read. I think I was just too young and callow to appreciate Fitzgerald before. In one of the blurbs on this copy of the book, a writer asks, How does she do it? And that
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Aug 25, 2010
Polomoche
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The cliche "write what you know" - so popular today among the myriad of mediocre-to-bad writers busy penning their memoirs - is to me the antithesis of why novels exist in the first place. The great novelist, believing in the resonance of the human spirit, is more interested in what they don't know than what they do. They believe that despite differences in time, place, gender, class, culture, and so forth, because we are all at our core human beings it is possible to overcome what s
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Sep 28, 2008
David
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Penelope shines again. This feels like the funniest of her novels I've read so far (over Offshore, The Bookshop, and The Gate of Angels, though they're all very witty) but it also has a beautiful weight to it. She's as perceptive as ever in swiftly, deftly describing the way people interact with one another, and her construction of story is as angular and unpredictable as ever. Fantastic. Highly recommended.
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Dec 30, 2011
Núria
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Es bueno que los humanos sean la única raza que tropieza dos veces con la misma piedra, porque sino no daríamos segundas oportunidades a cosas que la primera vez han ido mal, y sino yo no hubiera descubierto nunca lo maravilloso que es ‘El inicio de la primavera’. De Penélope Fitzgerald leí ‘La librería’ y, a pesar de que es un libro del que sólo encontraréis buenas críticas, a mí me decepcionó muchísimo, básicamente porque me pareció previsible, simplón, soso y superficial. Pero, a pesar de est
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Mar 30, 2011
Shayla
rated it: 
Yikes. I don't think I've rolled my eyes more while reading a book. Nellie leaves, does Frank care? I don't think so. She leaves the kids at the train station to get back to Moscow on their own. Do they care that their mom has left them? I don't think so. Then we get lots of descriptions of Reidkas, and Tolstoyian things and Birch Trees. Plus more descriptions of Russian activities, a little bit of England and Nellie's life, Birch Trees, everyone knows the goings on at Frank's house, enter
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Oct 01, 2010
Laura
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Penelope Fitzgerald's novel of an English family in Moscow, adapted by Penny Leicester. The winter of 1913 finds Frank Reid, owner of a printing company, abandoned by his wife. Frank Reid is not being helped by his accountant, Selwyn. The English Chaplaincy has a scary resident and now a shop girl is taking on the nannying duties. Lisa, the new nanny, is too beautiful for Frank, even with her plaits cut off.
Narrator: Clare Higgins; Frank: Richard McCabe; Selwyn: David Bamber; Nellie: More...
Narrator: Clare Higgins; Frank: Richard McCabe; Selwyn: David Bamber; Nellie: More...
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Dec 29, 2009
Louise
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I adore this writer. That's all there is to it. As far as I can see, she can do no wrong. This is set in Russia, a few years before the Revolution, and begins with a man who finds that his wife has left him , taking their children, and then, inexplicably, sending them back by train several days later. Of course, there are revolutionaries, reactionaries, wise peasants, fools, etc. but somehow nothing matters as much as how Fitzgerald brings every moment to life in the most dazzling and unexpected
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Jun 17, 2011
The way she handled diminutives in this novel grated on me. Had she taken a different approach I think I would appreciate this book more.
However i found the revolutionary nanny a little too fantastical and I didn't follow through with the senior printer's action when he found the bullet hole in his apron.
The contrast between the relative wisdom of the children compared with the father was my favourite element of this book.
However i found the revolutionary nanny a little too fantastical and I didn't follow through with the senior printer's action when he found the bullet hole in his apron.
The contrast between the relative wisdom of the children compared with the father was my favourite element of this book.
May 28, 2009
Lloyd
rated it:
A superb evocation of pre-revolutionary Russia. The writing transports you to the place and time, but this is no "clever-clever" historical novel in which the author's learning and research outshine the emotional centre of the work. The lives and passions of the central characters shape the novel's immense emotional resonance and impact. Frozen Moscow has a strange but vibrant heart beating at its core.
Apr 30, 2011
Bettie
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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May 08, 2011
Tim
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The Beginning of Spring is a spare and humorous story, told with bright clarity and much charity, about Frank Reid, an Englishman who owns a printing company in 1913, Moscow. His wife Nellie leaves him and their children behind and he is left to reflect on his life in Russia, his relationships domestic and business, and his desires. She is masterful in writing about ideas and creating characters and places. A real delight.
Nov 10, 2009
Lisa
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I had to read this for A-level English Lit. Everything gets over anaylised at A-level and our teacher was convinced everything was to do with sex and really ruined the story for most of us.
However, I've since read it again as I enjoy novels set in Russia and enjoyed it more second time round.
However, I've since read it again as I enjoy novels set in Russia and enjoyed it more second time round.
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Feb 17, 2011
Leire
rated it:
Different and interesting characters. Special atmosphere. Pleasurable reading. Everything happens for a reason, and that's why I liked the end so much.
Some of the quotes I liked:
"It's unkind to ask anyone for more than they have to give."
"Perhaps, Frank thought, I have faith, even if I have no beliefs."
Some of the quotes I liked:
"It's unkind to ask anyone for more than they have to give."
"Perhaps, Frank thought, I have faith, even if I have no beliefs."
Apr 27, 2009
sisterimapoet
rated it:
Given to me by a friend as part of our seasonal reading challenge.
Not bad, but not great. I like Russian novels, and this felt quite authentic, despite it not being. The atmosphere and tone felt authentic to the time and place they were portraying. It felt very Russian in the flood of odd characters that came and went. And also in the rather peculiar way things occur sometimes without knowing quite why.
But as a whole I never really got the point of it. Although it d More...
Not bad, but not great. I like Russian novels, and this felt quite authentic, despite it not being. The atmosphere and tone felt authentic to the time and place they were portraying. It felt very Russian in the flood of odd characters that came and went. And also in the rather peculiar way things occur sometimes without knowing quite why.
But as a whole I never really got the point of it. Although it d More...
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Mar 30, 2008
Jim
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Granted that in Russia back in 1913, life was much different for everyone including an Englishman who had lived there all his life, it was still a bit Kafka-like when life-changing things happened without explanation. His wife leaves with three children and then abandons them at a railway stop and proceeds to England where she stays with her brother one night and then disappears. A female care-taker for the children then becomes a love interest only to repeat the same pattern. No one seemed h
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Aug 19, 2011
Carolyn
rated it:
The the quotes in the book, but not sold on the story. Glad I read it, but would I recommend this, not so sure. She was a great writer, but the story and the fairy at the end around the birch trees, was a bit odd. Maybe his wife was in that land the whole time. Crazy story.
Jan 06, 2010
Laura
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this is a jewel of a book. those of you who have not read her yet -- oh man, you are in for a treat. "gate of angels" and "the blue flower" are my other two faves.
Nov 30, 2008
Eva
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Another wise and amazing historical novel. A slim volume that manages to catch the spirit of Russia at the eve of the revolutionary changes.
A gem.
A gem.
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Aug 03, 2011
A novel with the openness and eccentricity of a short story. Not as wonderful (to me) as Human Voices, but wonderful too.
Aug 01, 2011
Maureen
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A little slow going. Picked up around page 100, too bad it was less than 190 pages. Dry in some parts... set in Russia around 1900.
Dec 04, 2008
This one has a character that is an acct. May work for Winter Challenge?
Apr 12, 2010
Recommended in 1001 Books for Every Mood in the ...to love again category.
Apr 18, 2008
Sarah
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Oh dear. I rarely do this, but I only made it half way through and gave up. I hate saying that! Especially since Fitzgerald's Offshore is a favorite of mine. She is good at finding new and interesting ways to look at the lives of those we would assume to be miserable, and making them human and showing some hope. Here, we started out with an abandoned husband, unsure about his children, and everyone is freezing and hungry. Unfortunately, much much later, we're still lonely, hungry and freezing, w
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Mar 24, 2011
April
rated it: 
I couldn't stand it. It was dull and boring. The entire story seemed pointless by the end. It was just horrible to me and it took me way too long to read it.
Feb 18, 2010
grackyfrogg
rated it:
there were a lot of great, lovely and marvelous things about this book, but i'm not sure the ending was one of them.
