I've wanted to read this for years and years and I finally got around to it. It's a lovely, simple little tale with more depth than you'd think at first, and the translation seems well-done...or at least, I appreciated the language even though it wasn't in the first language.

Cynical as I am, I expected a very different ending: I thought that Asole would have decided to make her own miracle by leaving the town the very morning that Grey sailed into the bay. That seemed suitably adult. Instead, and I can't say that I regret this at all, we get a very fairy tale-like and charming happy ending. I'm more than happy to take it.

Quote Roundup

p. 16) In his silence there had been so much more than mere hate. And not a person failed to sense this. If he had only screamed, expressed his joy at Manners' plight in gestures, or shown pride in his own maliciousness, the fishermen might have understood. But he had acted differently from the way any of them would have acted. His conduct was utterly incomprehensible. He had set himself above everyone else, and by doing so had committed the unforgivable.

p. 36) "The future will show you many a sail, not scarlet, but dirty and evil. From a distance they'll look grand and white but close by they will be torn and coarse."

p. 46) "This is paradise! I have it right here, see?" And Grey laughed quietly, opening his palm.
From the mouths of children...

p. 66) She listened without reproach. But in what he had found to be the meaning of his life, the truth of his being, she saw only toys with which her little boy was amusing himself. Such toys as continents, oceans, ships.

p. 94) Nowadays, children, in their games, only imitated what their elders did.

p. 144) So-called miracles are made with one's own hands. When the most important thing for a man is to get a precious sixpence, it's easy enough to provide him with that sixpence. But when a heart conceals the seed of a flaming plant, a miracle, that is the miracle to make happen--if one can.

The one you do it for will be reborn and so will you. When the chief warden himself frees a prisoner; when a billionaire presents a villa, a chorus girl, and a safe full of money to a clerk; and when a jockey just for once holds his horse back for the sake of a horse who's had a run of bad luck, everyone understands. That is nice, that is inexpressibly miraculous. But there are other miracles: a smile, gladness, forgiveness, and a word which is needed and said in time. To experience them is to possess everything. ( )

Plot:
Assol grows up in a fisher village. She is poor and not particularly well-liked in the village, but an old storyteller foretold her that one day a ship with red sails would come with her love to take her away. Ever since Assol is waiting for that ship to arrive. Meanwhile, Arthur Gray is a rich kid who dreams of becoming a sea captain, a career choice that is both unthinkable and un-understandable for his parents. So Gray runs away to make his destiny.

Scarlet Sails is a beautiful, romantic fairy tale that pulled me in deeply and made me want to read more of Grin’s work. Wonderful.

Read more on my blog: https://kalafudra.com/2019/12/18/scarlet-sails-alexander-grin/ ( )

I read the English translation, not the original Russian, because I happened to have a copy around. The book seemed to me to be of no particular time or place, but it is much beloved by Russians. ( )

A wonderful, magical romance. I received this book when I was a child, and I still love it... ( )