Time in my Coffee: An Art-full Autobiography

Stories of exile, survival, and achievements spent with a captivating family are thoughtfully recalled in this memoir by the author Igor Sazevich. He embraces the dynamism, eccentricities, and strengths of his parents uprooted by the Russian Revolution of1917 and finding refuge in San Francisco. His unexpected arrival generates problems for the unwed parents causing them to return to Europe-not back to Russia but Paris, France. Their hope in restarting as a family in Paris is abandoned as the Nazi war machine expands.

The author chronicles his parent's quick action when faced with imminent danger to return to San Francisco to start yet another new life. The author describes the achievements of his mother as a decorator and his father as a sculptor, and his struggles to become an architect. As the parents' art careers advance, Igor succeeds in acquiring his license and scrambles to find

work. His life abruptly changes when he marries into the exiled family of Russian royalty.

This starts a unique journey coping with his unconventional family, and his wife's royal relatives while at the same time dealing with the pressures of a career and the divide between the families. The author and his artistic wife, Natasha, are able to bridge the differences with the help of her uncle, the exiled Prince Vasili Romanov. With his connections, he introduces Igor to several prominent people. This memoir takes us close to these prominent individuals as he leams leams to deal with their contrasting eccentricities. He details ordinary and unexpected circumstances to reveal the nature of persons encountered and places visited.

The memoir culminates with the discovery of Natasha's cancer. The

passages with familyand friends shed a touching recounting of those

last moments