My Hope -- A Memoir of Raisa Gorbacheva

Author: Wang Pan, Raisa Gorbacheva
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-12-01
Features: This is the only book written by the author during her lifetime, completed between December 1990 and April 1991. The author narrates her experiences from childhood through various stages of her life, naturally including her decades-long life with her husband. As the author stated in the preface titled "To Foreign Readers," the book "cannot be called a detailed and complete memoir." The limited length may be one reason, but more importantly, perhaps it was because in a country where the wives of Party and state leaders were traditionally not allowed to come to the forefront, the author considered publishing a book that "challenged tradition" more important than whether it had more "readability." The author could not have been unaware of the general readers' interest in more "personal details" like "political behind-the-scenes," but she might have focused more on how this book could support her husband's career.