"Medea and Her Children" by Lyudmila Ulitskaya, summary

The novel "Medea and Her Children" was written in 1996. This book is a family chronicle of the descendants of the Pontic Greeks of Sinople who settled in Crimea. The narrative centers on the childless widow Medea Mendes, whose wisdom, peace of mind, and loyalty to family ties unite her numerous nephews and grandchildren, scattered across various cities and countries by the historical storms of the twentieth century. The work was shortlisted for the 1997 Russian Booker Prize, and in 1998 it won the Italian literary prize Giuseppe Acerbi.

Keeper of the family nest

Medea Georgievna Mendes, née Sinopli, lives on the outskirts of Verkhniy Posyolok near Feodosia. She is the last purebred Greek in her family to retain the memory of her ancestors and a knowledge of the Pontic dialect. Medea works as a nurse in the village hospital, walks long distances, and gathers herbs and rare minerals. Throughout her life, the heroine strictly follows her inner Christian vows and gives thanks to fate for every day she lives.

At sixteen, in the autumn of 1916, Medea lost her parents: her father, a ship’s mechanic named Georgy, died in the explosion of the battleship Empress Maria, and her mother, Matilda, died nine days after giving birth to her fourteenth child. Medea took on the care of her younger siblings. As an adult, she married a dental technician named Samuil Mendes, a former soldier in the Special Forces (ChON) who suffered from nervous weakness due to his long-standing refusal to shoot peasants. The marriage was peaceful and happy, and after her husband’s death, Medea wore dark widow’s robes.

Every spring and summer, her modest terraced house fills with relatives: young mothers, children, husbands, and guests. Medea quietly watches over the generations, not interfering in their bustle, but maintaining an invisible balance among the entire family.

Spring Congress and New Faces

The new resort season opens with the arrival of Medea’s nephew, geologist Georgy, and his thirteen-year-old son, Artyom. Following them by taxi are Muscovites: the striking redhead Nika with her daughters Katya and Liza, and her niece Masha with her son Alik. Next door, in the courtyard of the local Kravchuks, Leningrad artist Nora and her young daughter Tanya have settled in.

Soon, the Kravchuks acquire a new guest: the tall massage therapist Valery Butonov, a former circus gymnast. His arrival brings a hidden tension into the quiet life of the village. Butonov possesses a powerful physical attraction that women find irresistible.

During a family hike to secluded rocky coves, Butonov overtakes the travelers. A chance touch of his hand triggers an inexplicable shiver in Masha and a sudden feeling of love. Nika also notices the athletic guest.

Secrets of the sisters and the tragedy of childhood

The narrative reveals the family’s backstory. For sixty years, Medea corresponds in French with her high school friend Elena Stepanyan, who married Medea’s brother, a hydraulic engineer named Fyodor, and settled in Tashkent.

Medea’s younger sister, Alexandra (Sandra), was always distinguished by her extreme frivolity, flightiness, and a series of whirlwind romances. Her first husband was Moscow biologist Alexei Miller, her second was military man Yevgeny Kitaev, and her third companion in her later years was the modest cabinetmaker Ivan Isaevich Pryanichkov.

Alexandra’s eldest son, Sergei, and his wife, Tatyana, died in a car accident when their daughter, Masha, was seven years old. The girl was taken into custody by the domineering General’s wife, Vera Ivanovna, her second grandmother. Deranged by grief, the General’s wife instilled in the child guilt for her parents’ deaths. Driven to despair by nightmares, Masha jumped out of an eleventh-story window but miraculously survived, landing on a snow-covered ledge. After this incident, Sandra took Masha into her home, where Nika surrounded her niece with sisterly care.

Medea herself carried a deep wound in her life. In 1953, while sorting through her late husband’s belongings, she found a secret letter from Alexandra to Samuil. It turned out that Nika was Samuil’s daughter, born of their secret affair in the summer of 1946. Shocked by the betrayal, Medea went to Tashkent to be with Elena, but never revealed her pain to her friend. Medea cut off all contact with Sandra for twenty-five long years.

A tangled love knot

In the Village, the love threads become increasingly intertwined. Nika spends a passionate night with Butonov, perceiving their affair as a casual resort fling. The next day, Masha, seeking to meet Valery in the city, drinks wine with him, and on the way back, she gives herself to him under the moonlight on a hill. She perceives this as a fateful transformation and spiritual revelation. Nika, upon learning of this, decides to retreat and leaves for Moscow.

Soon, Medea’s nephew, Gvidas, arrives from Lithuania with his wife, Aldona, and their seriously ill son, Vitalis, who suffers from paralysis. Medea shows particular warmth and affection to the unfortunate child. Meanwhile, Butonov secretly visits Masha at night through the window.

Masha’s husband, a talented biochemist named Alik Bolshoi, arrives. He’s preparing to emigrate to the United States, where he’s been offered a job at a leading institute. Masha confesses to her husband about her infidelity. Alik reacts to the confession with rational generosity, considering it an important experience for her poetic work. Butonov leaves for Moscow, and Masha’s family follows him back to the capital.

Moscow drama and the death of Masha

In the autumn in Moscow, Masha’s love addiction develops into a destructive obsession. She writes poetry and endless letters to Butonov, seeking meetings with him at his dacha in Rastorguyevo. Nika, going through yet another affair, unsuccessfully tries to persuade Masha to calm down.

The denouement comes in December. At Butonov’s dacha, Masha accidentally finds Nika’s batik scarf and realizes that her beloved aunt and mentor shared a lover with her. The world of ideal feelings collapses. Masha plunges into acute manic-depressive psychosis. She is tormented by hallucinations and an angel appearing in her dreams, teaching her to fly.

On a March night, when the paperwork for leaving for America has already been completed, Masha feels a chilling horror, familiar from childhood, gathering in the hallway. Escaping the obsession, she goes out onto the balcony and mentally takes a flight, stepping into the void.

Forgiveness and Remembrance

Having received the mournful telegram, Medea immediately sets off for Moscow. In Sandra’s apartment on Uspensky Lane, the sisters embrace after a quarter-century of separation, and old resentments dissolve in the face of their shared tragedy. Medea finds a Greek priest at the Antiochian Metochion who agrees to perform Masha’s funeral service. There she also learns that her brother Afanasy, who disappeared during the Civil War, is alive and has become an elder on Mount Athos.

After the funeral, Alik Bolshoi and his little son fly abroad forever.

In the epilogue, the narrator, a relative of the family, describes a visit to the Crimean house in the summer of 1995. Medea had died by then, bequeathing the estate to a Crimean Tatar, Ravil Yusupov, the grandson of an old carter. Georgy helped the legal heirs register the rights to the house, and he himself built a new home next door after marrying Nora.

Sinopli’s descendants have scattered across the globe: Nika and Lisa live in Italy, Alik Bolshoi became a prominent American researcher, and the grown-up Alik Mal’niy devoted himself to studying sacred books in Israel. This vast and diverse family continues to exist, preserving the memory of Medea.