Paullina Simons

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Paullina Simons is the international best-selling author of the novels Tully, Red Leaves, Eleven Hours, The Bronze Horseman, Tatiana and Alexander, The Girl In Times Square and The Summer Garden.

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[edit] Background

Born in Leningrad, USSR in 1963, her childhood dream of becoming a writer was put on hold when her family immigrated to the United States when she was ten. There she learnt to speak the English language.

Simons attended colleges in New York, Kansas and England, graduating from Kansas University with a degree in political science. She worked as a financial journalist on the Financial News Network, and translator among other various jobs before Tully, her first novel, was written and released.

Although her most well known book is The Bronze Horseman, many of Paullina's novels have reached international bestseller lists in countries including Australia and New Zealand.

All of her books have been published with Flamingo or Harper Collins.

Simons and her second husband Kevin Ryan live in Long Island, New York and have four children. From oldest to youngest they are Natasha, Misha, Kevin Jr., and Tatiana (named after the heroine in The Bronze Horseman).

[edit] Road to Paradise

Simons' next novel is called Road to Paradise. The expected publication date at present is 1 November 2007 for Australia and New Zealand, but will be available in some stores as early as 27 October 2007. Other release dates are still to be confirmed.

Road to Paradise Teaser, according to Simons:

"The title (was) taken from Smetana’s opera, but the story bears only a passing resemblance to that comedy of errors. This is more a tragedy of errors that becomes a comedy that becomes a tragedy." -PaullinaSimons.com

[edit] The Bartered Bride: Smetana

The Bartered Bride is a comic opera by Bedřich Smetana.

Synopsis: Mařenka and Jeník want to marry. However, Mařenka’s father, Krušina, has other ideas. He wants Mařenka to marry a boy she has never met, Vašek, the son of Micha, who is a wealthy landowner. The marriage-broker Kecal is hired to broker the marriage between Mařenka and Vašek. Kecal is made aware of the relationship between Mařenka and Jeník, and becomes determined to break them up in order to facilitate the marriage of Mařenka with Vašek. Mařenka and Vašek meet each other by accident, and while Mařenka works out who Vašek is, Vašek, on the other hand, is too much of a simpleton to realize who she is, and Mařenka starts painting a picture of Vašek’s intended bride as a woman who would make his life a total misery if he should marry her. This turns Vašek off the idea of marrying his intended wife, and also makes him interested in this girl who obviously has his best interests at heart. Meanwhile, Kecal starts his campaign to pay off Jeník, so that Jeník will renounce his right to marry Mařenka. Kecal eventually reaches a price with Jeník finds agreeable, and Jeník agrees to barter his bride away for 300 guilders. Jeník also specifies that this is on condition that Mařenka marries Mícha’s son. Since Kecal intends Mařenka to marry Vašek, so that he can get his money, he readily agrees. As soon as the contract is signed, the entire town repudiates Jeník.

A travelling circus comes to town, and Vašek becomes entranced with the gypsy, Esmeralda. There is some trouble with one of the acts, and Vašek is convinced to assist the circus. Mařenka is angry with Jeník for what he has done, and she angrily turns her back on him and agrees to marry Vašek. When both sets of parents meet with Mařenka, the appearance of Jeník at the meeting results in the revelation that Jeník is the long-lost son of Mícha from his first marriage, and that Jeník had been hounded out of house and home by his stepmother, Háta (who is also Vašek’s mother). As a result of this revelation, the terms of the contract between Kecal and Jeník, whereby Jeník gave her up (that Mařenka marry the son of Mícha), allows Mařenka to marry either Jeník or Vašek. Mařenka chooses Jeník, and Kecal is left with the embarrassment of having paid Jeník 300 guilders in order for Jeník to give up the right, to marry Mařenka, to Jeník, himself. At this time, a frightened child rushes in and exclaims that a bear has escaped from the circus. As everybody cowers, the bear wanders in, and pulls off its head, revealing that it was just the immature Vašek disguised in a bear costume for the circus.

[edit] Other publications

[edit] Tatiana's Table

  • A collection of recipes for meals mentioned in The Bronze Horseman, The Bridge To Holy Cross/Tatiana and Alexander, and The Summer Garden, is the latest publication by Simons. It is currently in wide release.

Paullina says:

"I was looking to make it funny and light and cute, and am still trying to, but of course, my melancholy Russian soul is getting the better of me as I remember what Tatiana and Alexander had, what they lost, what they sacrificed for each other, what it took them to get back to the metaphoric Lazarevo (which in itself was a metaphor), and suddenly I’m feeling slightly less chipper. The blockade of Leningrad in 1941 is presenting particular problems as I write with abundance about cheese and milk and butter and flour and beef tenderloin and preheating ovens and buttering casserole dishes. I keep thinking of Tatiana smelling the empty bag that once contained oatmeal when there was no electricity and no heat, no coal or wood, or water on the third floor. - PaullinaSimons.com

[edit] The Bronze Horseman

  • A screenplay for The Bronze Horseman, the movie, is currently being written by Simons.

She says:

"The fascination about a possible movie being made out of Bronze Horseman is astonishing. But this is the one book that I cannot and will not entrust to someone else to adapt to the screen, and I myself am flooded with prose work. I hope to have a screenplay finished soon." - PaullinaSimons.com

[edit] Appearances

Author appearances currently scheduled are currently posted on the Paullina Simons Official Website's Latest News section.

[edit] External links

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