Born in Madrid, Reyes Monforte is a journalist and writer whose professional career has been marked by her work on the radio.. For fifteen years he has directed and presented various programs on different networks, among which it is worth highlighting Onda Cero and Punto Radio. He has also collaborated on several television programs on Telemadrid., Antenna 3 TV, RTVE and El Mundo TV, acting as collaborator and, in some of them, also a screenwriter. His first book, A burqa for love (2007), became a best seller being adapted to television in a miniseries on Antena 3 TV one 2009. He has published four other novels, Cruel love (2008), The hidden rose (2009), The unfaithful (2011) y sand kisses (2013). with the novel A Russian passion (Sword, 2015) has obtained the XIV Alfonso X el Sabio Historical Novel Award 2015.
How did the idea of fictionalizing the life of this unknown historical figure such as Carolina Codina arise??
It was by chance, I met to eat with some friends at a restaurant on Bárbara de Braganza Street in Madrid, they arrived late, There was no coverage in the premises and I went out to make a call and found the plaque that the City Council had just put up a short time ago., in which it put: 'In this house Carolina Codina, singer and wife of composer Sergei Prokofiev, was born'. I loved Prokofiev and I didn't know he was married to a Spanish woman. Out of female curiosity I went in to see what he was like physically and how good, it was a beauty, it was very pretty, and also very elegant, but the amazing thing was when I started to learn more about his story..
I found that Carolina Codina lived the best and the worst of the 20th century. He lived in the New York of the skyscrapers, It was at Carnegie Hall that he met Prokofiev., at a concert, it was love at first sight; lived glamor and luxury; She was a close friend of Hemingway, by Matisse, from Cocteuau, by Coco Chanel, met the creme of the creme. He met Marlene Dietrich… Even when he was in Hollywood during the golden years, which was when she met Walt Disney and he convinced her to convince Prokofiev to make 'Peter and the Wolf'. It's something that Prokofiev and Walt Disney did., Prokofiev composed it but Walt Disney made a movie. From an earthly paradise it went to an earthly hell because the Prokofiev couple decided to return to Russia, deceived by Stalin who told them that they were not going to have any problems., that they were going to live and travel in freedom and then none of that happened and she ended up being convicted as a spy, that was a lie, a 20 years in a Russian concentration camp, in a gulag. Look at the story of this woman who had an exciting life and, however, here in Spain we practically did not know her, let's go, I didn't know her and I loved Prokofiev.
Can it be said that Carolina Codina chose her?
Exactly, history chose me. And, and, Carolina believed a lot in destiny, I also believe a lot in destiny and this shows it.
What aspects of Lina's personality have caught your attention the most and are reflected in the novel??
They all see themselves reflected because she was a very strong woman., with a lot of courage, with a lot of strength; besides, Lina had an impressive seduction capacity, was a magnet. Not only was she pretty but people liked her in addition to knowing five languages and Catalan because she was the daughter of the Catalan tenor Juan Cocina., He moved in magnificent cultural circles where he could speak perfectly with Matisse., with Picasso, with Stein and with everyone, everyone felt captivated by Lina.
Lina's story is the story of the 20th century. She lived throughout the decade of 1910 of 1920, 1930, 1940 y 1950; She was a woman of the 20th century but, however, she was too ahead of her time because what she thought was not the typical woman who was in the shadow of her husband, which was quite common, she was much more, He was never in the shadow of Prokofiev, made a team with him, I recommended it…
If we had to compare her with a woman today, of the present, who would it be?
Today, Lina would be the typical artist who would have millions of followers on social networks., who has a blog, that creates fashion, that creates a trend, because I had absolutely everything, and for having from the value, beauty and sympathy took everything away, minus the dignity, the strength and the ability to move forward. and love, They didn't take away his love no matter how hard they tried..
A Russian passion, as its title indicates, is an intense love story between Lina and the composer Sergei Prokofiev. Where there is love there is jealousy, was Lina jealous?
A century ago things were different, I think that the one who had reasons to be jealous was Prokofiev because the one who fell in love and was the center of attention of both women and men was Lina, It is true that Prokofiev was very attractive and he also liked…, let's go, that had its days. When he married Lina he was very in love with Lina and he died in love with Lina and although he betrayed her with another woman he died in love with Lina.
GINÉS VERA
