The Man From St Petersburg

Description

The Man From St Petersburg is a dark tale of family secrets and political consequences. Ken Follett's masterful storytelling brings to life the danger of a world on the brink of war. A Secret Negotiation 1914. Tensions are rising as Europe finds itself caught in a web of alliances and dangerous warmongering. To help tip the balance in their favour Britain aims to draw Russia into an alliance with them instead of Germany. Czar Nicholas's nephew, Prince Aleksei, is sent to London for secret naval talks with Lord Walden. A Play for Power Walden has a personal connection to Aleksei; his wife Lydia, is Aleksei's aunt. But they are not the only ones interested in his arrival, including Walden's daughter Charlotte, wilful, idealistic and with an awakening social conscience, Basil Thompson, head of Special Branch, and Felix Kschessinky, a ruthless Russian anarchist. A World at War With the British desperately needing a signed treaty and the fate of the world hanging in the balance, the destinies of these characters become inextricably linked as the final private tragedy which threatens to shatter the Waldens' complacency is acted out.

The international number one bestseller Ken Follett has published over thirty books in a career spanning more than forty years. With global sales in excess of 170 million copies, his novels have been sold in over eighty countries and translated into thirty-seven languages. Ken was just twenty-seven when he wrote the award-winning thriller Eye of the Needle, which became an international success, but he surprised everyone in 1989 with The Pillars of the Earth. This story about the building of a cathedral in the Middle Ages continues to captivate millions of readers all over the world, and was voted into the top hundred of Britain's best-loved books in the BBC's The Big Read. Married to Barbara Follett, the former Labour Member of Parliament for Stevenage, Ken and his family live in a rambling rectory in Hertfordshire and also spend time in London and Antigua. An ardent admirer of the theatre, Ken is often seen at productions of Shakespeare's plays when not indulging his passions for writing and playing bass guitar.

Ken Follett has done it once more . . . goes down with the ease and impact of a well-prepared martini * The New York Times Book Review * Eerily plausible . . . one of Follett's finest * Time *