100 stories from the hiking route

1934 – The famous English writer Herbert George Wells arrived in Estonia

Information

Topic

Literature and culture

Coordinates

Long-Lat WGS 84

Latitude: 59.2406851

Longitude: 25.6792976

L-EST 97

x: 6568126.0
y: 595832.0

Location

Kauksi-Aegviidu Hiking route

The last lady of Jäneda manor, Maria Zakrevskaja-Benckendorff (later Zakrevskaja-Benckendorff-Budberg) was a mysterious lady whose life was full of adventures and close relationships with famous men, such as diplomat and journalist sir Robert Brucke Lockhart and writers Maksim Gorki and Herbert George Wells.
Maria, or Mura, made acquaintance with the famous English science fiction writer Herbert George Wells in 1920 when Wells visited Maksim Gorki in Russia, and Mura, with her good language skills, was assigned as a translator for Wells. Already then Wells fell in love with Mura and in 1934, his love brought Wells to Kalijärve lakeside in Jäneda to visit Mura, who at the time was at her children’s, Paul and Tanja’s, place.
Maria’s daughter Tanja recalls, ‘Wells was at the time an overflowingly energetic 66-year-old man. Before his arrival, Mura was nervous, worrying that life in Kallijärve may be too simple and lacking in comfort for Wells. Everybody, however, liked Wells and he got along perfectly with all the residents, helping them even with haying.”
As the famous writer wanted to avoid public attention, his visit remained unnoticed at first. Journalists discovered Wells when he had already been in Estonia for four days. The writer refused to give an interview. However, an insistent journalist from Päevaleht managed to convince Wells to pose for a photo. After a few weeks of holiday Wells left together with Maria and her children to London. Maria and Wells started living together, altough they never married.