The future poet, 14-year-old Irina Knorring, left the Russian Empire in November 1920 on one of the 126 ships carrying the remnants of the White Army from the Crimea. Writing a diary was her solace and joy on her difficult journey into exile. Despite the hardships she describes, however, her writings are not harrowing. They come across simply and directly, like a conversation with a loved one.Today Irina’s diary is not only the personal story of a young girl from Kharkiv, but also offers an immediate insight into a bygone era and holds up a mirror to our own.
