Anna Pasternak
Anna Pasternak | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1967 |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Website | www |
Anna Pasternak (born June 1967) is a British author of books, articles, and spa reviews.[1]
Early life[edit]
Pasternak was born in 1967.[2] She is the great-granddaughter of Leonid Pasternak, the impressionist painter, and the great-niece of Nobel Prize-winning novelist Boris Pasternak, author of Doctor Zhivago.[3] Her father is the scientist Charles Pasternak and her first cousin once removed is the literary scholar Ann Pasternak Slater (niece of Boris Pasternak).[4][5]
Career[edit]
Pasternak's book Princess In Love (1994) claimed to detail the affair of Princess Diana with James Hewitt. According to The Independent, "The work has been widely panned for its breathless Mills and Boon style." The Los Angeles Times said it "has few quotations and is written in the breathless style of romantic fiction, containing the supposed thoughts and feelings of Princess Diana" and Buckingham Palace called it "grubby and worthless."[6] Despite the book's condemnation, Diana later confirmed the affair.[7]
Her 1998 novel, More Than Money Can Buy is about a man with "aspirations for money, power and rich women" working in the international shipping arena.[8]
Beginning in 2004, Pasternak published a relationship column titled Daisy Dooley.[9] And in 2007, she published a novel titled Daisy Dooley Does Divorce. Described as being about a "self-help junkie [who] comes to terms with divorce," it features chapters titled "Dick Delivery Boys," "The Sperminator," and "Premature We-Jacualtion."[10] Kirkus Reviews said it is "worth wading through," though Publishers Weekly called it a "frustrating traipse through divorcedom," concluding that "the reading experience is less than exhilarating."[11][12]
In 2013, under the name Anna Wallas, Pasternak published a self-help book with her husband titled Call Off The Search.[13]
In 2016, Pasternak published a biography of Boris Pasternak and his mistress, Olga Ivinskaya, titled Lara: The Untold Love Story That Inspired Doctor Zhivago. The book received mixed reviews. NPR said it serves as an "upsetting reminder of what can happen when free speech is curtailed."[14] While The New York Times said that "the 'untold' in the subtitle simply isn't true" because "the story of Pasternak's affair with Olga has been told repeatedly — for instance, in Olga's own memoirs." It concluded: "In 'Lara,' Anna Pasternak treats 'Doctor Zhivago' as a romance, more or less interchangeable with the hit movie, and she displays minimal understanding of Pasternak's literary achievement."[15]
In 2019, Pasternak issued legal proceedings against American author Lara Prescott, claiming that Prescott's novel The Secrets We Kept features "an astonishing number of substantial elements" taken from Lara.[16] Pasternak lost the lawsuit, with the judge ruling that "It is clear that the defendant did not copy from Lara the selection of events in the relevant chapters of The Secrets We Kept or any part of that selection."[17] Pasternak was ordered to pay back 99% of Prescott's costs, totaling 1 million Sterling Pounds.[18]
In the same year, Pasternak published a book about Wallis Simpson's affair with Edward VIII, titled The American Duchess, the Real Wallis Simpson.[19] Kirkus Reviews wrote that "Pasternak offers a variety of thought-provoking arguments" while The Telegraph said, "This Mills & Boon-ish mess might be the worst biography of Wallis Simpson ever written."[20][21]
In May 2020, Pasternak published an article in The Tatler about Princess Catherine.[22] Kensington Palace threatened legal action, saying that the story "contains a swathe of inaccuracies and false misrepresentations which were not put to Kensington Palace prior to publication."[23] The Tatler eventually removed a paragraph from the article.[24]
Her writing has been called "Mills & Boon,"[25][21] referring to the publisher of romance novels, and has often centered on detailing the extramarital affairs of real married women.[26][14][27] Pasternak is also an active writer of spa and hotel reviews.[28][29][30]
Film and television commentary[edit]
Pasternak has also appeared on numerous news programmes and documentaries, sometimes courting controversy with her comments.[31][32][33]
In 2021, whilst being interviewed for BBC Breakfast, Pasternak said that, "anyone like me who is white, privileged and well-educated is not able to say anything without it being viewed as racist" and "we as a white minority nowadays are silenced from being able to speak our truth."[34] The comments sparked an online backlash. But BBC defended Pasternak following a barrage of complaints about the interview.[35]
Later in the same year, Pasternak appeared in a three-hour Sky Documentaries series about former Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, whom Pasternak reportedly knew during their university years. In covering the series, The Guardian criticized Pasternak, referring to her as the "waffler-in-chief" and calling her commentary on Maxwell, a convicted sex offender and human trafficker, "unsearing."[36]
Personal life[edit]
Anna Pasternak is married to her former therapist, Andrew Wallas, a psychotherapist and entrepreneur who calls himself "The Modern-Day Wizard." He has taught "spiritual psychology, intuitive healing and body whispering."[37][19][38] They met in a yurt.[39]
In 2018, her stepdaughter with Wallas gained notoriety when she went missing in the Brazilian rainforest after wandering in barefoot to meditate.[40][41] Pasternak has a daughter named Daisy Pasternak.[42][43]
References[edit]
- ^ "Anna Pasternak - Writer". Anna Pasternak.
- ^ Golden, Audrey. "Boris Pasternak and the Lost Story of Lara". blog.bookstellyouwhy.com.
- ^ "An evening with Anna Pasternak, non-fiction author". www.kingston.ac.uk.
- ^ Allfree, Claire (5 July 2022). "Charles Pasternak: My family's £2m high court battle for Dr Zhivago's legacy". The Telegraph.
- ^ "Hoover Institution Hosts Book Launch: Boris Pasternak: Family Correspondence, 1921–1960". Hoover Institution.
- ^ "Book Describes Alleged Affair Between Diana, Army Officer". Los Angeles Times. 4 October 1994.
- ^ "The life and times of Princess Diana". Reuters. 23 August 2007.
- ^ "It's So Last Century - Anna Pasternak". www.itssolastcentury.co.uk.
- ^ "Anna Pasternak Daisy Dooley". 27 June 2017.
- ^ Daisy Dooley Does Divorce. Grand Central. 22 October 2007. ISBN 9780446408479.
- ^ "DAISY DOOLEY DOES DIVORCE | Kirkus Reviews" – via www.kirkusreviews.com.
- ^ "Daisy Dooley Does Divorce".
- ^ "CALL OFF THE SEARCH". 11 December 2019.
- ^ a b McAlpin, Heller (25 January 2017). "In 'Lara,' The True Story Of Pasternak's Muse And Mistress". NPR.
- ^ Pinkham, Sophie (27 January 2017). "Pasternak's Muse: The Real-Life Inspiration for 'Doctor Zhivago'". The New York Times.
- ^ "Lara: The Untold Love Story That Inspired Doctor Zhivago – review". TheGuardian.com. 18 September 2016.
- ^ "Descendant of Doctor Zhivago author loses copyright court case". The Guardian. Haroon Siddique. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
- ^ "Pasternak's Great Niece Ordered To Pay Almost £1M". Law 360. Ronan Barnard. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
- ^ a b "WELCOMING ANDREW WALLAS AND ANNA PASTERNAK WALLAS TO TRANSATLANTIC!". 4 May 2022.
- ^ "THE REAL WALLIS SIMPSON | Kirkus Reviews" – via www.kirkusreviews.com.
- ^ a b Heffer, Simon (4 March 2019). "This Mills & Boon-ish mess might be the worst biography of Wallis Simpson ever written". The Telegraph.
- ^ "Catherine the Great".
- ^ "Tatler Finally Edited Its Controversial Profile of Kate Middleton". The New York Observer. 21 September 2020.
- ^ "Cele|bitchy | Tatler removed one paragraph from their 'Catherine the Great' story, guess what it was". www.celebitchy.com.
- ^ "Cocaine arrest marks a new low". 13 April 2012.
- ^ "'Princess in Love' author explains her motives: Writer's attempt 'to set record straight by sophisticated analysis of woman's journey through adversity' does not impress first readers". Independent.co.uk. 3 October 1994.
- ^ "How Wallis Simpson Reacted When King Edward VIII Revealed His Plans to Abdicate". 5 March 2019.
- ^ "Turning back time at Preidlhof".
- ^ "Four Seasons Resort at Landaa Giraavaru Maldives – spa review". 3 December 2019.
- ^ Pasternak, Anna (30 August 2020). "What I learnt from checking in to the 'Immunity Hotel'". The Telegraph.
- ^ "The first American divorcée to marry into the British Royal Family is redeemed in a new documentary". 10 January 2020.
- ^ "Meghan and Harry interview an 'exercise in disrespect'". BBC News.
- ^ "Epstein's Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell". IMDb.
- ^ "Royal biographer uses Meghan Markle interview to whine about 'white minorities being silenced'". 8 March 2021.
- ^ "BBC Breakfast defends author claiming 'white minority' is being 'silenced' in racism discussions after complaints". 17 March 2021.
- ^ "Epstein's Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell review – uncomfortably close to excusing her". TheGuardian.com. 27 June 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-06-27.
- ^ "The Other Zhivago Affair". 8 June 2017.
- ^ "Off To See The Wizard". 5 June 2014.
- ^ "Anna Pasternak: I met my wizard in a yurt". www.telegraph.co.uk.
- ^ "Brit tourist missing in Brazil jungle after going on barefoot walk to meditate found alive". Daily Mirror. 30 March 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-04-01.
- ^ "Katherine Brewster: Hunt for 27-year-old British woman missing after walking into Brazilian forest to meditate". Independent.co.uk. 30 March 2018.
- ^ Pasternak, Anna (31 October 2021). "My daughter's made it onto Tatler's list of eligible singletons – I'm not jealous, I'm thrilled". The Telegraph.
- ^ Pasternak, Anna; Pasternak, Daisy (3 May 2020). "Lockdown has proved Mum loves our dogs more than me (as she's happy to admit)". The Telegraph.
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