Lina and Serge

The doomed love story of Lina Prokofiev, and the human cost of great art

Simon Morrison’s portrait of Lina and Serge Prokofiev is the story of a remarkable woman who fought for survival in the face of betrayal and despair, and the brilliant, self-absorbed artist she married. Born at the end of the 19th century and raised in Brooklyn, Lina fell in love with Serge and defied convention to be with him. She followed her genius husband to Stalin’s Russia, but her singing career ended and Serge abandoned her for another woman. Then, in November 1948, Lina was sent to the gulag. She was held in captivity for eight painful years. Meanwhile, Serge found himself the tool of a pitiless regime, to which he had to conform—even while producing some of the 20th century’s greatest musical works.

Lina and Serge is a remarkable human drama drawing on the forces of art, sacrifice, and the struggle against oppression. Readers will never forget the tragic and triumphant sweep of Lina’s life, and never again listen to Serge’s music without seeing the flawed man behind it.

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