Natalie Randolph

Venia 1913-1926 A Russian Odyssey Natalie Randolph

Veniamin "Venia" Blinov, born in 1909, lived in Kazan, Russia, as one of eight children of a Russian Orthodox Priest. When the Russian Revolution broke out following World War I, he became a refugee, and his family was broken apart. They endured hardships traveling over 6,000 miles across Russian Siberia to Harbin, Manchuria on the Trans Siberian Railway. This is the story of the odyssey of a child from a priviledged family gifted with musical talent, who lived through war, destruction, and death, only to discover hope and an unlikely future in Harbin, Manchuria, on his journey to the United States of America.