Now Available
Bridge to Borovichi
American Impressions of a Small Russian City: 1990 – 2005

Rick Marsi
Author and Photographer

Design: Wayne Davison of The Graphorium

Lithography:
Midstate Litho, Endicott, NY
2006 First Edition

Paperback: 6 x 9 inches

288 pages with 103 photographs

53 stories from 13 visits over 15 years to Borovichi, Russia,
Sister Cities International affiliate of Binghamton, NY.

Copyright Rick Marsi 2006

Price $22.00 includes tax and shipping

Ordering Information:

On the Internet: Purchase with credit card through Paypal.

By mail: Send check or money order– made out to the author – to
Rick Marsi
PO Box 183
Binghamton, NY 13903.
Include return address.

Book Description: Wrenched from the ineptitude of Communism to surviving in a free market economy, the citizens of Borovichi, Russia, have endured poverty, violence, uncertainty and social upheaval since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Chronicling their plight during 13 visits to Borovichi between 1990 and 2005, journalist Rick Marsi tells their story in Bridge to Borovichi.

Introduced to Russia through a Sister Cities International connection between his hometown of Binghamton, N.Y. and Borovichi, Marsi used a small fifth-story walk-up apartment as home during the many fortnights he spent in his adopted Russia city. From there, he reached out to meet residents from all walks of life: politicians and painters; butchers and policemen; and the first in growing contingent of “new” Russians successful in business. This book documents how a tumultuous 15-year span changed their lives; how they adapted, persisted, despaired and let fate push them forward.

Bridge to Borovichi also offers a rare inside look at the natural world surrounding Marsi’s adopted city – a lake-bejeweled land of dense spruce and birch forest where Russians escape to hunt mushrooms, catch pike and make camp under star-studded skies.

Read this book and you’ll know Borovichi, a city isolated from Western contact until less than two decades ago. More importantly, you also will make friends with the people who call it their home.