An Irish novel that became a sensation in the USSR
bbc.com
bbc.com
The melodrama of Voynich’s novel is matched by the extraordinary story of her own life. Ethel was born in Cork to parents George Boole, an eminent mathematician and the philosopher Mary Everest, whose uncle gave his name to the world’s highest mountain.
(And, yes, it really is that George Boole:
[1] "In 1930, the manuscript was inherited after Wilfrid's death by his widow Ethel Voynich, author of the novel The Gadfly and daughter of mathematician George Boole. She died in 1960 and left the manuscript to her close friend Anne Nill" - from the Wikipedia page linked above.
This is why I try avoid HN. But none the less, very interesting! ;)
My Canadian friends always think this is strange.
Some people's brains don't consider scale/space when hearing a familiar connection. :p
It was a part of the mandatory school cirriculum at some point, and a gadfly is one nasty insect, so the name sticks really well. Even if not everyone is Soviet Union read the book, pretty much everyone know about it. But it'd be pushing it to say it was a genuienly popular book. It was just a mandatory reading material, because ... you know ... it's about revolutionaries.
I think that articles like this really should include a link to a copy.