White Deer

Regina McBride is the author of six novels, one memoir, and one book of poetry. Her novel Stranger from Across the Sea was also published by Green City Books. Her novels have been translated into five languages. Her novel The Nature of Water and Air was a Booksense pick (Independent Book Stores selection), a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers book, and a Borders Original Voices choice.  A recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts, McBride lives in New York City where she taught fiction writing at Hunter College for thirty years, and continues to teach privately.

Regina McBride’s new book evokes a loving nostalgia for a place we’ve never known—Chekhov’s Russia. Set in the summer of young Anton’s twentieth year, the novel centers on a young woman whose family is losing financial control of their estate—an estate famous for its orchards. Anton is the guest of a neighboring doctor, and the two young people become entwined in a romantic friendship—une amitiée amoureuse. McBride’s story comes at Chekhov’s from the side, presenting us not only with the family’s eccentric and complicated history, but the vision of the author himself, as a character in the work. A beautiful and eloquent rendering of a place and time we somehow feel is ours.—Roxana Robinson, author of Leaving, NYT Editors’ Choice McBride has always been a gifted and lyrical storyteller, but never more so than in this gorgeously written novel of 19th century Ukraine and Russia, in which she brings a young Anton Chekhov to life. The story will remain with you long after you’ve turned the final page. Superb.—Gabriel Byrne, author of Walking with GhostsThis gentle but profound novel takes you on a quietly magical journey through nineteenth century Ukraine, mixing the Chekhovian sensibility with contemporary spirit to create the effect of delightful immersion.—Lara Vapnyar, author of Divide Me by ZeroThis restrained and beautiful book utterly transported me to summer in Russia in the late 19th century: to a lovely old estate with a neglected peach orchard. McBride beautifully suggests how shards of the daily material of life can be picked up by an extraordinary writer and transformed into art. I never wanted to leave the enchanted, doomed world she conjured.—Rachel Pastan, author of We’re So Lucky to Live HereThis transportive novel sweeps the reader up into a vivid, melancholic dream set on a nineteenth century Russian estate. Regina McBride creates her own Chekhovian tragi-comedy that delights as it captures a lost world frozen in time. The White Deer is a gripping must-read for anyone who loves literature and a love story gone awry.—Virginia Pye, author of Marriage and Other MonumentsIn this stirring tale, McBride evokes a sense of place with lush depictions of birch stands and daisy fields along with a soundtrack of Tchaikovsky and folk tunes, creating a backdrop for Vera’s tender and chaste friendship with Anton. It’s an evocative portrait of a vanishing way of life.—Publishers Weekly