BENNETT, Vanora 1962-

PERSONAL: Born July, 1962.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Macmillan Publishers, Brunel Rd., Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England.

CAREER: Journalist. Reuters, London, England, Moscow correspondent; Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA, Moscow correspondent.

WRITINGS:

Crying Wolf: The Return of War to Chechnya, Macmillan Publishers Ltd. (London, England), 2001.

The Taste of Dreams: An Obsession with Russia and Caviar, Headline/Trafalgar Square (London, England), 2003.

Contributor to London Times.

SIDELIGHTS: Growing up in a Russian émigré community in London, Vanora Bennett longed to see her parents' homeland, a desire she fulfilled as soon as she left school. In fact, she sold her violin to buy plane tickets to Moscow, earning a position as a Moscow correspondent for a couple of newspapers. The Taste of Dreams: An Obsession with Russia and Caviar recounts her experiences in this land—both the romantic elements and the often brutal realities—in the early years following the collapse of Soviet communism. "Those were heady days, both for the new-rich mafiosi and for Westerners with dollars like Bennett," noted Justin Marozzi in the London Spectator. Her book attempts to capture both the hopes and the miseries of that period. Bennett does not shy from the unpleasant realities, such as the low-level radiation in most vegetables, the random violence, and the sudden disappearances of friends. But she also captures the romantic dream, especially in the almost cult-like relationship between Russians and caviar. "Yes, Bennett likes the taste, but she likes caviar's symbolism even more: it's the food of regret and nostalgia, of conquest ('a delicacy snatched from the mouths of the defeated khans'), of dashing, freebooting Cossack caviar Waders," remarked a Kirkus Reviews contributor. "Russia is a hard place to explain to people who haven't been there, but Bennett gets the feel of it right," noted Library Journal contributor Travis McDade.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Bennett, Vanora, The Taste of Dreams: An Obsession with Russia and Caviar, Headline/Trafalgar Square (London, England), 2003.

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2004, review of The Taste of Dreams: An Obsession with Russia and Caviar, p. 610.

Library Journal, September 1, 2004, Travis McDade, review of The Taste of Dreams, p. 174.

Spectator, September 6, 2003, Justin Marozzi, "Joining the Wild Party," p. 46.