Mary (Nabokov novel)

 Mary is the tale of Lev Glebovich Ganin, a Russian exile and ex- White Guard Officer displaced by the Russian Revolution. Ganin is currently living in a boardinghouse in Berlin and is accompanied by an 18-year-old Russian girl named Klara, an older Russian poet named Podtyagin his landlady, Lydia Nikolaevna Dorn and his neighbor, Aleksey Ivanovich Alfyorov, who he meets in a dark, broken-down elevator at the start of the story. Through a series of interactions with Alfyorov as well as a photograph, Ganin discovers that his long-lost first love, Mary, is now the wife of his disapproving neighbour, and that she'll be joining his family soon. Once Ganin is aware of this, he breaks off the relationship with his current girlfriend, Lyudmila, and begins to become consumed by the memories of his experience in Russia with Mary that Ganin notes as "perhaps the happiest times in his entire life". Ganin is fascinated by Mary's dream and refuses to let Alfyorov take her. He then tries to reunite with Mary who , he believes, still is in love with Ganin. At last, Ganin claims that he will go to Berlin on the night prior to when Mary is to arrive and that his friends will organize a celebration to celebrate his arrival the night prior. Ganin continues to drink and intoxicate Alfyorov by giving him alcohol. Just before Alfyorov goes to sleep, he requests Ganin to set his alarm for half past seven, as Alfyorov plans to meet Mary at the train station next morning. Ganin is enthralled by Mary, sets the alarm for 11 and plans to meet her at the train station. However, as he leaves the house, he experiences the chance to see things clearly. "The world of memories which Ganin had dwelt became what it was in reality: the distant past... In addition to the image, no Mary existedor would she ever exist." Ganin rather than meeting Mary, he decides to take the train that will take him to France.