For the last fourteen years of Boris Paternak's life - the crucial period during which he wrote Doctor Zhivago - Olga Ivinskaya was his closest companion. She helped him in his work, and represented him in his dealings with publishers, the Soviet authorities, and the outside world in general. More than this, she provided the essential inspiration for him in the writing of the novel, serving as the prototype of its heroine, Lara. Because of her association with Pasternak (whom the Soviet secret police was reluctant to molest directly in view of his uniwersally acknowledged standing as one of Russia's greatest poets), Madame Ivanskaya was twice imprisoned in a forced labour camp - first from 1949 to 1953, and second time after Pasternak's death from 1960 to 1964.
After her return to Moscow from her second imprisonment, Madame Ivinskaya began to write this book, which was completed in 1972.