Book excerpt: The five year friendship and marriage of the writer Anton Chekhov and the actress Olga Knipper, who created many of the central female roles in his plays, is one of the most extraordinary love stories in the history of the theatre. Because of Knipper's work at the Moscow Art Theatre and Chekhov's illness which bound him to Yalta, their relationship flourished through a constant stream of letters between them. Temperamentally, the actress and writer were at odds and the letters reflect their life together, as tempestuous, teasing and spontaneous as the many relationships found in Chekhov's stories and plays. The volume is a testimony to the deep, passionate, improbable love of Chekhov and Knipper which survived almost insurmountable obstacles.