Winter, 1916. In St Petersburg, snow is falling in a country on the brink of revolution. Beautiful and headstrong,
Sashenka Zeitlin is just sixteen. As her mother parties with Rasputin and her dissolute friends,
Sashenka slips into the frozen night to play her role in a dangerous game of conspiracy and seduction.
Twenty years on,
Sashenka has a powerful husband and two children. Around her people are disappearing but her own family is safe.But she's about to embark on a forbidden love affair which will have devastating consequences.
Sashenka's story lies hidden for half a century, until a young historian goes deep into Stalin's private archives and uncovers a heart-breaking story of passion and betrayal, savage cruelty and unexpected heroism - and one woman forced to make an unbearable choice ... Gripping from start to finish. The perfect mixture of sweeping history and page-turning storytelling Intensely moving, with an unforgettable climax that will touch the hardest heart Furiously readable - it's hard to put
Sashenka down. The glory and tragedy of her story remains long after the last page is turned Intricate, fast moving... by the time I put the book down, long after midnight, I was in tears * THE TIMES * If you're fascinated by twentieth-century Russian history, you'll be intrigued by the tale of
Sashenka, a loyal Communist wife married to a powerful party member, whose life starts to unravel when she embarks upon an affair...The author is a noted historian, and this novel is full of fascinating, meticulously researched detail about Russian life. * Daisy Buchanan *
Sashenka