- Pasternak (Boris) Sestra moya zhizn [My Sister, Life], light age-toning, bound in later half cloth preserving cut-down original upper panel of wrappers. 1922, first Russian edition. My Sister, Life is one of Pasternak's key books of poetry. Written in 1917 (at the time of Themes and Variations) its publication was delayed by the Bolshevik Revolution: together the works sealed Pasternak's reputation as one of Russia's great modern poets.