Kryzhanovskaia, Vera Ivanovna (1861–1924)

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Kryzhanovskaia, Vera Ivanovna (1861–1924)

Russian novelist and short-story writer. Name variations: Vera Kryzhanovskaya or Kryjanovskaya; (pseudonym) J.W. Rochester. Born 1861 in Russia; died of TB, 1924, in Latvia; m. Sergei Semënov.

With husband, attended spiritualist salons and claimed to receive communications from English poet John Wilmot (1647–80); novels, influenced by spiritualist beliefs, were extremely popular and trans. into several languages; wrote over 50 occult and historical novels and novel cycles, including L'élixir de la vie (1901) and Les mages (1902).