Un revólver para salir de noche

Continuing with her particular approach to women in the 20th century, this time Monika Zgustova focuses her attention on Véra Nabokov, the woman who accompanied the writer Vladimir Nabokov throughout his life. Véra is a clear example of the woman who, aware that she shares her existence with an extraordinary man, decides to make the success of her husband her reason for being. Véra is the first reader of Vladimir's texts, who cleans them and prepares them for his edition. She organizes the life of the Nabokovs in exile, first in Berlin, then in Paris and finally in the United States, where she convinces her husband to start writing in English and focus on novels, until her return to Europe, when she establish in Switzerland. She manages the family finances and negotiates book contracts, film adaptations, and periodical contracts. But she also tries to control Vladimir's friends, especially the female ones, to the point of attending her husband's classes at the university as just another student. And on the other hand, would Nabokov have been one of the greatest writers of the 20th century without Véra? The question arises inescapably: was Véra an independent woman, as she considered herself, or did her life depend in everything and for everything on that of her husband? The novel also delves into Nabokov's relationships with other women, despite Véra's tight control, and what they represented for Nabokov and his work.