No marriage of a major twentieth-century writer is quite as beguiling as that of Vladimir
Nabokov's to Véra Slonim. She shared his delight at the enchantment of life's trifles and
literature's treasures and he rated her as having the best and quickest sense of humor of any
woman he had met. From their first encounter in 1923 Vladimir's letters to Véra chronicle a
half-century-long love story one that is playful romantic and memorable. At the same time
the letters reveal much about their author. We see the infectious fascination with which
Vladimir observed everything-animals people speech landscapes and cityscapes-and glimpse his
ceaseless work on his poems plays stories novels memoirs screenplays and translations.
This delightful volume is enhanced by twenty-one photographs as well as facsimiles of the
letters and the puzzles and drawings Vladimir often sent to Véra. With 8 pages of photographs
and 47 illustrations in text
