Mary (novel) - Plot Introduction

Plot Introduction

It is the story of Lev Glebovich Ganin, a Russian émigré, displaced by the Russian Revolution. Ganin is now living in a boarding house in Berlin, where he discovers that his long-lost first love, Mary is now the wife of the rather unappealing boarder next door, and that she will be joining her husband soon. Ganin contrives a complex scheme in order to reunite with Mary, who he believes still loves him. The eponymous Mary never appears in the present of the novel, but only in Ganin's reminiscences.

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