
An Irish novel that became a sensation in the USSR - lermontov
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170119-the-irish-novel-that-seduced-the-ussr
======
qohen
BTW, while interesting on its own, the article provides us with this little
tidbit about the novel's author, Ethel Voynich, which is sure to be of
interest to HN-ers (my emphasis added):

 _The melodrama of Voynich’s novel is matched by the extraordinary story of
her own life. Ethel was born in Cork to parents_ George Boole, an eminent
mathematician _and the philosopher Mary Everest, whose uncle gave his name to
the world’s highest mountain._

(And, yes, it really is that George Boole:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Boole#Family](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Boole#Family)
)

~~~
mastazi
Ethel Voynich also inherited the misterious Voynich manuscript[1] which is one
of the most studied texts in the history of cryptography:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript)

[1] "In 1930, the manuscript was inherited after Wilfrid's death by his widow
Ethel Voynich, author of the novel The Gadfly and daughter of mathematician
George Boole. She died in 1960 and left the manuscript to her close friend
Anne Nill" \- from the Wikipedia page linked above.

~~~
dmix
Oh great, I've never heard of the Voynich manuscript now I've spent the last
hour reading Wikipedia and watching this doc
[https://youtu.be/awGN5NApDy4](https://youtu.be/awGN5NApDy4)

This is why I try avoid HN. But none the less, very interesting! ;)

~~~
mastazi
I just wanted to follow up on this, last night I watched that doco and I found
it very enjoyable, thanks for the link!

------
eps
That's "Ovod" in Russian.

It was a part of the mandatory school cirriculum at some point, and a gadfly
is one nasty insect, so the name sticks really well. Even if not everyone is
Soviet Union read the book, pretty much everyone know about it. But it'd be
pushing it to say it was a genuienly _popular_ book. It was just a mandatory
reading material, because ... you know ... it's about revolutionaries.

------
kwhitefoot
It's on Gutenberg:
[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3431](http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3431).

I think that articles like this really should include a link to a copy.

------
rock8y
For any one interested in reading, the kindle version is free on amazon as of
now. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0082RG1LU/ref=docs-os-
doi_0](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0082RG1LU/ref=docs-os-doi_0)

------
cheenbabes
I read the book in Russian. Great story

