¶ … Boris Akunin's the Turkish Gambit (New York: Widenfield & Nicholson, 2005, pp.42-80)

The second part of Boris Akunin's novel The Turkish Gambit is mainly devoted to the exploration of the mystery of who is the real spy within the army. Varya retains her political convictions: "Completely forgetting about her appropriate tone of voice, Varya exclaimed passionately: 'But the times we live in are so oppressive and so hard! Honest people are op- pressed, sinking beneath the burden!'" (p.58) When she meets a man schooled in older and more genteel manners, she exclaims: "In St. Petersburg, one does not kiss modern women's hands!" (p. 59) Varya's feminist, socialist, and anti-religious convictions place her in constant conflict with the mores of almost anyone with whom she comes into contact with. "Man's relations with the Almightily are founded upon the conscious acknowledgement of inequality," says one man and Varya rages against this idea in a political debate, providing entertaining diversion in the novel, even though this dialogue does not offer a solution to the mystery. (p.60)

Varya finds her beliefs most obviously challenged by the presence of the Ottoman Empire's harems. She says that modern women should never agree to live as wives in harem, as the custom is humiliating and barbaric. Even when seeking the truth, she cannot restrain herself, as during the begging of the section, she is disgusted to hear of the ladies of one harem, who loved their husband so passionately wept at his execution, even though Varya believes they should have cheered their release from tyranny.

Varya's passionate and intense nature is both her strength and her weakness. On one hand, her convictions are admirable. She refuses to silence herself. However, her bias can get in the way of passing through society, gathering needed evidence, and stifle dialogue that could provide potential clues, if the exchanges were carried out in a less threatening manner.