Today, I’m delighted to host The White Deer by Regina McBride; A Novel of Anton Chekhov
The book is on a blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2026/09/blog-tour-the-white-deer-by-regina-mcbride.html
About the Book
In the summer of 1879, on his way to Moscow to study medicine, 19-year-old Anton Chekhov, from a bankrupt merchant class family, stops to spend a restful few weeks in the Ukrainian countryside, staying with his friend, Dr. Mitrofan, who is worried about Anton’s lingering bronchitis. It is here that Anton meets Vera Denisova, also 19, a budding actress, the daughter of theater aristocrats from Volkhov, a neighboring estate. The two spend much of their time wandering Volkhov’s vast property, hoping for a glimpse of a white deer that has been spotted in the back acreage.
As they grow closer, Vera confides in Anton about her secret romance and heartbreak over Petya, a servant her age who was gifted at drawing and who she helped to acquire an apprenticeship as a draughtsman in order to leave servitude for good.
Anton is fascinated by her obsession, and a triangle forms between Vera, Anton, and the absent Petya. Anton, too, shares his secrets with her, his conflicted relationship with his indigent family and his frustrated wish to publish stories. Surreptitiously through Anton, Vera learns the truth about her family’s declining financial situation and the impending loss of her beloved childhood estate. Together in the long, extended light of summer days, Vera and Anton struggle to come to terms with their feelings for each other and the new profoundly changed world that is waiting for each of them at summer’s end.
The final section of the novel charts the correspondence between Vera and Anton over the next two decades. Vera has become a successful actress and Anton, a doctor who treats peasants for free, has more than realized his ambition as a writer.
In a final letter to Vera before his death at 44 of tuberculosis, Anton reveals that his play, The Cherry Orchard, was inspired by his time with her at Volkhov.
Praise for The White Deer:
“In this stirring tale, McBride evokes a sense of place with lush depictions of birch stands and daisy fields along with a soundtrack of Tchaikovsky and folk tunes, creating a backdrop for Vera’s tender and chaste friendship with Anton. It’s an evocative portrait of a vanishing way of life.“
~ Publishers Weekly
“This transportive novel sweeps the reader up into a vivid, melancholic dream set on a nineteenth century Russian estate. Regina McBride creates her own Chekhovian tragi-comedy that delights as it captures a lost world frozen in time. The White Deer is a gripping must-read for anyone who loves literature and a love story gone awry.“
~ Virginia Pye, author of Marriage and Other Monuments
Buy Link
https://books2read.com/u/mvaor8
The Book Details
Book Title: The White Deer
Series: n/a
Author Name: Regina McBride
Publication Date: September 22nd, 2026
Publisher: Green City Books
Page Length: 319
Genre: Historical Fiction / Russian Historical Fiction
Any Triggers: n/a
Excerpt
A couple emerged through the birches ahead of us walking on an adjacent pathway. A stout man in an immaculate white suit and a woman in pale blue, wearing a tall hat embellished with sprigs of lily-of-the-valley.
“Vera Sergeyevna,” the woman called over to me. “Did you hear about the sighting this morning? A white deer on the back acreage. A doe, it is believed, or it might be a young buck. There are plans for an excursion later to look for it.”
They kept walking past us but we could hear the rest of their conversation. The man, whose boots creaked as he walked, said that a white deer would make a great prize.
The woman, a commanding sort of person, a regular grand duchess, linked her arm firmly with his, and said, “You do not hunt a white deer! A white deer, buck or doe, is a miraculous occurrence in nature.”
“Why then go look for it?” the stout man asked.
“You are crude, Victor Victorovich!” she said in a chastising voice, though she did not let go of his arm. “Crude and insensitive. It is in order to glimpse the miracle of it.”
“I am crude, I admit,” Victor Victorovich confessed mournfully. As his voice trailed off we could hear him say, “I rely on you, dear Anya Leonideyvna, to show me a different way.”
We watched them retreat.
“This woman, Anya Leonideyvna,” I said, “has taken it upon herself to civilize Victor Victorovich.”
Anton raised his eyebrows. “Why does he need civilizing?”
“He overindulges in everything. A confessed voluptuary.”
“That does not strike me as such a terrible crime,” Anton said. He smiled as he reached into a deep pocket in his sail-cloth trousers and brought out a small oval charm formed of soft metal, flat on one side. On the other side, sealed in some kind of clear resin, the tiny, slender figure of a white deer stood surrounded by green, the suggestion of trees or a forest.
“I am not a superstitious person, but they say it is providential to glimpse a white deer, especially at a time of change in one’s life,” Anton said.
“Really?”
“A white deer, it is said, invites the person lucky enough to see it to exchange an old life for a new one.”
At these words, a charge of emotion rose from deep within me. I peered at Anton. “Then I would very much like to see it.”
The quality of his attention as he gazed at me, caused a shiver to run up my arms. The moments of our first encounter in the doctor’s office hung in the air between us.
Right away in my mind the white deer became inseparable from Petya. An encounter with it, I told myself, would herald Petya’s imminent return. A fugitive part of me knew it wasn’t realistic, but the longing, hopeful side attached itself to the idea.
“When I know more about a search party, Anton, I will come tell you.”
We kept walking. I imagined seeing the white deer at every turn ahead. I imagined it leading me far into the property, a place deep and dark green where I would find Petya waiting for me.
“So many old trees,” Anton said, “and so many different kinds.”
“These trees are my family members. I have known them all my life.”
Anton wore a rapt expression.
“Our forests are similar, I’ve been told, to the beautiful Carpathian forests in southwestern Ukraine.”
“There is a feeling here,” he said, “something very old.” He took a deep breath as if he might breathe the atmosphere into his lungs. He did not seem inclined to go back to his studying.
About the Author
Regina McBride is the author of eight books. The White Deer ~ a novel of Anton Chekhov is her sixth novel. She is also the author of one memoir, Ghost Songs, and one book of poetry.
Her novel, The Nature of Water and Air, was a Booksense Pick (Independent Book Stores Selection), a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers book, and a Borders Original Voices choice. It was optioned for a film. Her books have been translated into five languages.
A recipient of fellowships from the NEA and the New York Foundation for the Arts, Regina lives in New York City, where she taught fiction writing for thirty years at Hunter College and continues to teach privately.
Connect with Regina
Website • Facebook • Instagram
Amazon Author Page • GoodReads
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