Behind every successful man- no. At the Center of Every Story is a Women Who Was Erased From History

My very late International Women's Month book pick goes toooo.... Anna Snitkina in "The Gambler Wife" by Andrew D. Kaufman

We all know Fyodor Dostoyevski, Russian author of Crime and Punishment and so much more. But… do you really know this great literary mastermind?

Do you know Dostoyevsky the husband? Dostoyevsky the feminist? How about Dostoyevsky the gambler? Maybe Dostoyevsky, the man with Epilepsy? Forty-five-year-old Dostoyevsky fell in love with his twenty-one-year-old stenographer Anna. And while Anna’s story is tragically only tied around Dostoyevsky’s, it’s still powerful and honestly, in the end, I don’t think she minded. Which kind of goes against every raging feminist feeling in my body but oh well. I feel like this book did such an amazing job of making sure that Anna’s story was told and that it was maybe enough.

I can’t speak for Anna, but from what I gathered in her detailed journal entries, despite not getting credit for what she helped Dostoyevsky accomplish, was that she loved him and supported him. Through every aspect of his career, marriage with her, illness… epilepsy, and addiction, she stayed with him.

Dostoyevsky was married twice, first to Maria and then to Anna. There were multiple times throughout Anna and Fyodor's marriage that she questioned if he was still in love or seeing Anna, unfortunately, we don’t have confirmation in either direction. We do know, that Fyodor and Maria exchanged many letters while he and Anna were traveling. Anna, being the bad bitch she was though, handled this like a boss. She started writing Maria herself and refused to confirm to Fyodor that she was doing so when he began to suspect what she was up to. Again, unfortunately, those tea-filled letters between Maria and Anna are long gone as well. But, shortly following this it seems that Maria and Fyodor’s exchanges seemed to stop.

During Anna and Fyodor’s travels, Anna learned that Fyodor is absolutely addicted to gambling. So addicted, he’s willing to have them sell e v e r y t h i n g. They are dirt poor, and he will still go gamble away the advances he receives on his upcoming novels. Anna finds a way to navigate his addiction and work with it, to enable his creativity while trying to keep their funds in check.

Not only does she manage this, but she also manages to raise their children. Simultaneously, Anna continues to find work as a stenographer. With the money she makes, and by helping Fyodor continue to write his books, they manage to move back to Russia.

Once back in Russia, Anna was able to start her own publishing business. This venture was such a BADASS move then! The number of people who came in looking for her husbands' approval or advice while she would clap the fuck back and be like “he’s sleeping, I’ve got this”. THEN she would sell countless copies of Fyodor's books.

This took much of the financial strain out of their lives, it also gave Anna an immense amount of confidence. Following this, Fyodor was able to write some of Russia’s greatest literature, literature still studied today.

So next time you pick up some Dostoyevsky as some light reading, make sure you pay your thanks to Anna.

• Jess