★ This is a private memoir of the Tarkovsky family, written by the younger sister of director Andrei Tarkovsky. Using rare family photos and letters, it pieces together the cross-generational life of this cultural family and is a recipient of the "Anti-Booker Prize".
★ It does not only focus on Andrei Tarkovsky, but also tells the stories of his poet father and three generations of the family—even the prototype mirror of the film *Mirror* is hidden in these delicate memories.
★ With a light touch, the author weaves fragmented childhood, family ties, and exile experiences into a complete tapestry. Readers can not only feel the warmth of the era but also understand the family bonds behind the genius.

Marina Tarkovsky’s memoir assembles these shards into a large mirror, reflecting not just one generation, but one era. The author carefully reconstructs the family’s history dating back to 1803, focusing primarily on her famous father and brother, who left an indelible mark on 20th-century world culture.

The protagonists of the book include: ancestors of the Tarkovsky, Vishnyakov, and Dubasov families; the beautiful grandmother Verusha; her young parents—20-year-old literature students Musya and Asik; godfather Lev Gornung, who created the unique photo archive that served as the basis for the film *Mirror*; and of course, her brother Andrei—childhood playmate, not-so-diligent schoolboy, student at the Institute of Oriental Studies and VGIK, world-renowned director forced into exile...

Daughter of poet Arseny Tarkovsky and sister of filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, she writes about the family’s history, her childhood, the fate of her parents, and the complex lifelong dialogue between father and son—Arseny and Andrei.

"I have come to believe that in my memoirs, I must tell the complete truth, no matter how bitter it may be. Shards, when held in the hand, cut deeply, but there is no other way to piece together the mirror before which the lives of my loved ones unfolded."

Marina Tarkovsky

The book is illustrated with rare photos from the family archive.

#### Five Reasons to Read:
The book is a recipient of the "Anti-Booker Prize", one of the most prestigious literary awards of the early 21st century.
A memoir, a literary biography, a lifelong diary—this is how one can describe this collection of short yet vivid episodes from the Tarkovsky family’s life, depicting childhood, creativity, war, relatives and friends, and moments of joy and sorrow.
*Shards of a Mirror* is both a story of three generations of the family and the author’s own memories, joyful and tragic. It preserves not only bygone time but also the emotions and experiences of the protagonists: the tense dialogue between father and son, the complicated relationship between parents—two strong individuals who could not be together, yet could not be apart either...
The author’s light prose weaves the "shards of the mirror" into a complete canvas. Fragmented memories help reconstruct the life scenes of several generations and convey the atmosphere of the 20th century.
The book includes rare photos from the Tarkovsky family archive, as well as unique documents and letters.

#### Excerpts:
"This mirror was destined to become the first and most important Mirror in Andrei’s life, the prototype for all mirrors in his life and films. It was plated with real silver amalgam in ancient times, so the reflection in it was soft and slightly mysterious.

The mysterious nature of the mirror was first revealed when a friend of our parents, Lyovushka Gornung, brought prints of photos taken beside it—father in a leather coat, and father holding little Andrei in his arms. Later, Lev photographed the grown-up 16-year-old Andrei beside the mirror.

The amalgam-plated glass replicated the appearance of those posing, but this replication was not an exact copy. Something else could be discerned in it, as if the mirror revealed what was actually hidden beneath familiar features...

I look at its dim surface and see my own reflection. Andrei was always older than me. Now I am older. Soon, we will meet again.

On the other side of the mirror glass."

"Father admired Tsvetaeva like a vassal admires his suzerain, like an apprentice admires his master. I was born in 1934, and he named me Marina after the poet Tsvetaeva. This rather rare name was chosen as early as 1932, when they were expecting their first child. They wanted a daughter, but had a son, Andrei."

"Is this not a miracle—to walk along the streets where father once went to school, to open the doors his hand touched, to meet people who knew him when he was young.

I walk along Karabiner Street (father probably liked this name too) to find Irina Mikhailovna Boshnyak, entering the cozy house that retains the atmosphere of old times. She is a friend of father’s youth, with a round, innocent childlike face and bright, youthful eyes. She is very old, yet lively and talkative. She can barely remember what happened yesterday, but when she talks about events seventy years ago, it is as if they happened just days ago. As she speaks, the dim room furnished with mahogany furniture and a piano fills with faint figures from the past..."

"The glass of the wall clock was long gone. So the delicate black hour hand (with an openwork end shaped like a stretched heart), the simple slightly curved minute hand, and the slender golden second hand were dangerously exposed.

I loved watching the big hands crawl slowly, almost imperceptibly, while the second hand jumped briskly. Once, staring at them, I picked up the slenderest second hand. It was weightless and slipped from my hand onto the wooden floor with cracks.

I crawled around searching for it for a long time, and when I realized I could not find it, I cried softly and despairingly."

"How fortunate it is that at the beginning of life, we are given the sense of our uniqueness, our immortality! Only as we grow older do we begin to understand that we will leave this world just as those before us did—unable to stay, unable to hold on. We can only try to walk our path with dignity, just like the young doctor from Yaroslavl who hurried to Obolensk on an anxious August evening in 1903, and the son of a famous Moscow artist in a cast at the dacha—each walked their own path."

"I have had this photo for a long time. Winter, near the Moscow Zoo. The frozen pond has turned into an ice rink. In the foreground is a wooden bench with several young boys sitting on it. To the right of the bench stands Andrei, his back to the camera, wearing a spring/autumn coat with a raised collar. All the boys on the ice rink are wearing ear-flap hats, while Andrei is wearing a cap. From his tensed shoulders and entire body, I can feel how cold he is. I cannot see his face, but I know he is pale as death, with his cheeks turning blue from the cold."

From the Author

Genealogy
More on the Tarkovsky Family Genealogy
Meetings with Father
Galoshes
Backyard
Glass Eye
Notes on Writers
Dogs
Grandfather from Elisavetgrad
Real Gymnasium
Graduation from Real Gymnasium. What Next?
Bityugovo
Masquerade Costumes
Morning Assembly
Madame Eugenie. Census
A Piece of Cake
Primary School. Snowdrops and Love
1st Shchipovsky Lane, Building 26, Apartment 2
Cotton-Lined Coat
Beginning
Ode
Summer 1934. Letter to Grandmother Vera
I Was Born
"I Love the Night Most of All"
Continuation of the Episode
Summer 1944
Kissel
"The Troublemaker" and Football
School No. 554. Students and Teachers
The Lady in the Velvet Robe. Father’s Letter
Trip to Azerbaijan
The Dubasovs, Pshe斯拉夫skys, Grandfather Korzhenevsky
Aunt Dunya and Marusya Kovaleenko
The Doctor from Yaroslavl
Two Letters. 1916
Kirillka
A Family Member Named Anushka
Buttons
"From Erie to Ontario..."
Alexander Tarkovsky’s Revolutionary Activities
The Elisavetgrad Circles and Their Traitors
"Creation Day" — June 25
Train Station, Lilacs and White Acacias
Three Friends from Elisavetgrad
Fur Coat
In Search of Seliby
Memories of an Old Wardrobe
In Memory of an Unknown Poet
Two Plays
Painting
Spider Brooch
Christmas Tree
Cat Stories
VGLK (Institute of Literature and Art)
Turquoise Earrings
Fire
Flowers
Bathhouse
Notes on Scraps of Paper
Love
Tanechka
About Shoes
"Arkad" Apples
Press Clippings
Mother’s Death
Untitled
Vera Ivanovna and Zinaida Petrovna
Alexander Karlovich’s Imprisonment
Letter to Victor Hugo
Abramtsevo
Conservatory
Andrei’s Summer in the Taiga
Why I Did Not Become an Orientalist
Admission to VGIK (All-Union State Institute of Cinematography)
Note and Poems
Wedding
Hello, Vasya!
Quatrains
Caviar. Trip to Paris
Walks in Paris. Andrei’s Will
Tolya Solonitsyn
Returning to the Beginning of "Andrei Rublev"
The Cathedral of the Intercession on the Nerl. Vladimir
The Man Who Disappeared from the Photo
"The Sweetest Names Have Moist Sounds..."
Medem
Father and Astronomy
Father’s Apartment
"They Stole My Happiness..."
Dedication
Dialogue
Discovery
Aunt Tonya
Father’s Gift
Arseny Tarkovsky’s Unpublished Book
Alexander Karlovich’s First Marriage
The Rachkovsky Sisters
Betrothal in Letters
Valery, Valya, Valyusha
Several Documents from Grandmother’s Archive
Pocket Watch
Thinking About Andrei...
Strange Letters
Father. The Last Year
Andrei Tarkovsky’s Questionnaire
Andrei Is Cold
The Stairway to Heaven
The "Anti-Booker Prize"

Appendices

Document Confirming Nobility...
Protocol Completed by A.K. Tarkovsky...
From Irkutsk to the West
Alexander Karlovich Tarkovsky (The Death of an Eighty-Year-Old)
The Grigoryevites Killed Misha Zlogoy and Valya Tarkovsky
Cultural Power Has Faded
Vladimir Lubin. "When Awakened, the Past Lives On..."
Marina Tsvetaeva. "I Repeat the First Line..."
Arseny Tarkovsky. Poems Dedicated to M.G. Faltz
Maria Danilovna Tarkovskaya. Poems

The Tarkovsky Family Genealogy (Paternal Line)
The Vishnyakov Family Genealogy (Paternal Line)
Chronology of Alexander Karlovich Tarkovsky’s Life
Chronology of Arseny Alexandrovich Tarkovsky’s Life
Chronology of Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky’s Life