Portrait of the Poet Anna Akhmatova by Natan Altman

In Moonlight in Odessa, the second half of the novel begins with this poem by Russian poet Anna Akhmatova.

Three things in this world he loved:
Evensong, white peacocks
And worn maps of America.

He didn’t like crying children,
Tea with raspberry jam
Or hysterical women.

…And I was his wife.