In the book ‘Reflections’ Zinaida Shakhovskaya shared her memories of famous emigrants with whom she was personally acquainted. She created portraits of Zaytsev, Khodasevich, Zamyatin, Tsvetaeva and, of course, Bunin with warmth and great wit. She spoke about Bunin with a special tenderness:

Zinaida Shakhovskaya was born in 1906. She descended from an ancient noble family. After the revolution, she fled Russia with her mother and sisters. The era during which she happened to live, was distinguished by the most tragic events: the two world wars, revolutions, the civil war, waves of emigration.

Sensitive to all the events, Shakhovskaya worked in journalism, wrote books, participated in the Belgian and French Resistance, and was awarded the Legion of Honor. She signed her texts not only with her first and last name but also with two pseudonyms: Jacques Croisé and Zinaïda Sarana. In Paris, Shakhovskaya briefly worked on the literary magazine ‘Blagonamerennyi’ (well-meaning), which was founded by her brother Dmitry. Soon the writer married artist Malevsky-Malevich and moved to Belgium.

The staff of the Ivan Nikitin Museum was in correspondence with Zinaida Shakhovskaya in the 1990s. She left a dedicatory inscription on this copy of her book: ‘To the Bunin Museum and all Voronezh residents to whom I wish to valiantly overcome all difficulties without discouragement — “there are nights without light, but never without hope”. Zinaida Shakhovskaya. Paris, 18.5.91. I loved and respected the Bunins’. The poetic lines quoted by the writer belong to her brother Archbishop John, also known as Prince Dmitry Shakhovskoy.