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Cast in a film of George Feifer's novel 'The Girl from Petrovka', Anthony Hopkins searched London's bookshops for a copy in vain, then found one left behind at Leicester Square Underground station. It turned out to be Feifer's own annotated copy, lost by a friend.

As told by Anthony Hopkins and George Feifer

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The story behind the card

Feifer's 1971 novel follows an American correspondent in Moscow who falls for a free-spirited young Russian woman. The 1974 film, directed by Robert Ellis Miller, starred Goldie Hawn and Hal Holbrook, with Hopkins in a supporting role. When Hopkins met Feifer during filming, the author mentioned that he no longer had a copy of his own book: he had lent his annotated one to a friend, who had lost it in London. Hopkins showed him the copy he had found, and the notes in the margins were Feifer's. The story rests on the two men's own accounts, repeated in interviews for decades, and small details vary between tellings.

Türkçe oku
George Feifer'ın “The Girl from Petrovka” romanından uyarlanan filmde rol alan Anthony Hopkins, kitabı Londra'daki kitapçılarda aradı ama bulamadı. Sonra Leicester Square metro istasyonunda unutulmuş bir nüshaya rastladı. Bu, yazarın bir arkadaşının kaybettiği, kenarları Feifer'ın notlarıyla dolu kendi nüshasıydı.

Feifer'ın 1971'de yayımlanan romanı, Moskova'da görev yapan Amerikalı bir muhabirin özgür ruhlu genç bir Rus kadına âşık olmasını anlatır. Robert Ellis Miller'ın yönettiği 1974 yapımı filmin başrollerinde Goldie Hawn ile Hal Holbrook vardı; Hopkins yardımcı rollerden birini oynadı. Çekimler sırasında Feifer'la tanışan Hopkins, yazardan ilginç bir şey duydu: Feifer'ın kendi kitabından bir nüshası bile kalmamıştı. Notlarla dolu nüshasını bir arkadaşına ödünç vermiş, arkadaşı da onu Londra'da kaybetmişti. Hopkins istasyonda bulduğu kitabı gösterdi; kenarlardaki notlar Feifer'ındı. Hikâye iki adamın yıllar boyunca röportajlarda anlattıklarına dayanıyor; küçük ayrıntılar anlatıdan anlatıya biraz değişiyor.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: The Girl from Petrovka
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