The author of several good books on Russian imperial history turns her attention to the array of gifted exiles in Paris after the Revolution: Nijinsky, Diaghilev, Bunin, Chagall, Stravinsky,... read more
Born in Russia, Poplavsky fled to Paris in the Revolution, where he become a literary and artistic enfant terrible of the emigré circles of Montparnasse. This novel, translated into English... read more
How Stalin isolated and pampered Western journalists in the gilded cage of the Metropol Hotel in order to control their output: their translators were often paid to share their beds, but oth... read more
A witness to the Beslan massacre, the former Moscow correspondent sought to ease his soul and deepen his understanding of the roots of violence by taking a 1000-mile walk along the political... read more
Painter, explorer, writer, archaeologist and theosophist, Roerich was a key figure for Diaghilev and Stravinsky for whom he designed sets and costumes (including The Rite of Spring). He was ... read more
A chilly outing for disgraced Colonel Alexander Vasin (whom we've met in a variety of scrapes in Black Sun and Red Traitor), fleeing across the wintry Siberian tundra with a man and a secret... read more
Set in Siberia in the 1970s, the adult narrator looks back on his friendship with an Armenian boy. Other slim but lyrically powerful novels by this great Russian/French novelist include Test... read more
It seems the 'Mrs Burton' (born Ursula Kuczynski) who pedalled around the English countryside in 1942 was a colonel in the Red Army. Her life story is extraordinary.