Siberian Dream

In this lyrical, sensual memoir, Irina Pantaeva shares her remarkable true-life fairy tale - the story of a determined and courageous young woman, raised in communist Siberia, who achieved an impossible, exquisite dream halfway around the world. Siberian Dream begins amid the repression of the final days of the Soviet Union. Born into an ancient indigenous Siberian culture, Irina came of age with a rich heritage of spirituality and creativity that was often at odds with the world around her - a world of poverty because her parents refused to join the Communist Party, and a world in which individuality was stifled.Picked by a talent scout to star in a Soviet film, Irina came to Moscow, a city in which old borders and ideologies were collapsing. Then against all odds, saving every penny, she ventured on an impossible journey to Paris, where she struggled to break into the fashion industry, still enduring rejection because her exotic beauty was not readily accepted. Irina's moving tale culminates with her arrival in New York where, with dizzying speed, she found herself celebrated by the New York fashion world.Her struggle to survive has now been transformed into a meteoric rise in fashion and film, as Irina continues to weave the fabric of dreams from the ancient cloth of her people.