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Editorial Review Product Description
The Olympic gold medalist offers a poignant, loving account of her life with her long-time partner and beloved husband, Sergei Grinkov, from their first introduction and successive world pairs skating championships, to their storybook romance and marriage, to the fatal heart attack that took Sergei's life. Tour. ... Read more Customer Reviews (128) 
Must read!!
A classic love story with a bittersweet twist. two ice skaters, thrown together by chance fall in love. I cna't give away much more without giving away the entire story. this story is a must read for any fan of pairs figure skating.
kaczenka
Love this book! I always was fan of G&G and only discovered little bit more about their life now. It's amazing to find out, that there is actually love like this! I can only wish I could ever have even 1/3 of such level oflove!Sorry for my mistakes, English is not my first language:)
Enchanting
I was in love with Katia Gordeeva & Sergei Grinkov from the moment I first saw them skating together. Their classic routines were perfect enough to win many world championships including a 1988 Olympic gold medal in Calgary Canada.
Romance eventually blossomed and the beautifully matched pair were married in April of 1991. Their daughter, Daria Sergeyevna Grinkova, was born in my favorite Morristown NJ a little over a year later.
Reading Katia's memories of their life and love still brings tears to my eyes.
I recommend this book for its portrait of pure innocence enframed in the magical world of ice skating.
A beautiful love letter
I'm really glad I found this book at a library book sale last year.Though this story is no longer current news, I hadn't forgotten about the tragic death of Sergey Grinkov or watching him perform with his wife Katya in the 1994 Winter Olympics.And even though the world has long since moved onto other headlines and stories of interest in the figure skating world, the love story told in this book is truly timeless.As a Russophile and a historian whose field of expertise is Russian history, it was a double joy to read because of all of the descriptions of Russian culture, the differences between Russian and American customs, and what life was like in the late Soviet period and the early post-Soviet period.(Although I have to say that the transliteration style wasn't completely pleasing to me; for example, I don't think I've ever read any other book where a double O is used in place of the letter U, as in Ligooshina or Katoosha, and I'm still trying to figure out how the nicknames Serioque and Katuuh are supposed to be written in Russian characters.)
Though the book begins and ends sadly, in between there's a lot of happiness and love, making this into a beautiful heartfelt love letter to a wonderful person, skating partner, friend, lover, husband, and father.The love between Katya and Seryozha is so pure and genuine, nothing like the type of superficial and problem-plagued celebrity relationships we're used to hearing about.It even made me a little jealous of their storybook love story!All throughout, Katya is very honest and open, about their relationship, the world of young skaters in the Soviet Union, what goes on behind the scenes at the Olympics, the hectic life on the road of skaters, and how difficult it was to constantly have to leave their daughter Darya behind while they skated.While I'm sure there are some things she chose not to write about, overall a very detailed and honest life and love story emerges.She was so lucky to have this wonderful man, who was so much more than just an athletic partner, for (what was then) half of her life.
Because the love story is so beautiful and like a dream come true, the reader can really feel her deep grief and sorrow expressed at the beginning and end of the book.It's a terrible thing to lose the love of your life, the father of your child, the only person you've ever skated with for the past 13 years, when you're only 24 years old.This beautiful love story isn't diminished for me by knowing that Katya has since moved on with her life and found love again.She had a child with Ilya Kulik six years after Sergey died, and married him a year later; it's not like she jumped into his bed soon after this book was published!(And since Kulik is six years younger, he would have been a bit too young for her then anyway.)When you're widowed at such a young age, you should hardly be expected to be in mourning forever, and it may help the more current reader to not feel quite so sad at the end, knowing that this intense pain and sorrow isn't such an overpowering force in Katya's life anymore.And new husband or not, there's no denying that her first husband, her first love, was indeed the greatest love of her life.
Captured my heart
What a wonderful story this was.I love to watch skating and have not missed watching an Olympics since I was a kid.I am familiar with a lot of the skaters mentioned in this book.I thought this story was so touching and full of emotion.Katia considers her life with Sergei almost too perfect.They were so in love and their life together was indeed a fairy tale.I commend Katia for being able to pick herself and go on with her life no matter how difficult after Sergei's unexpected death in 1995.I thought the comparison between Russian and American customs was very interesting.This was an enjoyable and heartwarming read.
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