Inspired by a true story, historian Montefiore (Young Stalin, 2007,
etc.) turns novelist to profile a young revolutionary who leads an
exemplary Marxist life until a romantic misadventure puts her in
Stalin's sights.Sashenka, teenage daughter of a Jewish oil magnate,
is exiting an exclusive prep school for daughters of the Russian
nobility in 1916 when, instead of being picked up by her father's
chauffeur, she's arrested by the Tsarist police, who have gotten
wind of her subversive activities as "Comrade Snowfox." After
spending the night in jail, she's interrogated by Captain Sagan,
who releases her to her family. Uncle Mendel, Sashenka's mentor in
the Bolshevik movement, assigns her to turn Sagan into a double
agent; Sagan has similar designs upon Sashenka. As these intrigues
play out, the Tsar abdicates, and the Revolution ensues. Sagan dies
in the rioting, and Sashenka becomes Lenin's secretary. By 1939,
she is a model Soviet matron, the wife of Vanya, a rising star in
Stalin's NKVD. When Uncle Joe himself crashes a soiree at her
dacha, she's intimidated, but relieved that the dictator seems
taken with her children, Snowy and Carlo. Despite her communist
scruples, Sashenka is drawn to impish younger man Benya Golden, a
writer who seduces her with blandishments both verbal and physical.
After Vanya bugs the lovers' trysting places, he's arrested by his
former employers, taking Sashenka, Mendel and Benya down with him.
Under torture, all confess to trumped-up conspiracy charges and
disappear into the voracious maw of Stalin's terror machine. Snowy
and Carlo survive, spirited under false names to adoptive families
by family friend Satinov. In 1994, a Russian oligarch engages
fledgling historian Katinka to research the disappearance of his
grandparents in 1939. Katinka soon learns that Satinov, now 94,
holds the key to the enigma of her client's origins, but Satinov
challenges her to arrive at the solution independently - for
reasons not clear until the well-tuned surprise ending.Katinka's
archival research is as suspenseful as Sashenka's trials in this
deft fiction debut. (Kirkus Reviews)
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 ...
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