A Tear in the Curtain is a historical novel. The
story tells of three families, British, Hungarian and
Russian, whose lives are linked for fifty years during
the Cold War and afterwards.Their experiences reflect
the danger, bravery, heartbreak, joy and sorrow of those
days when Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain. Four
eleven year-olds spend an idyllic seaside holiday in
England in August 1956, just before the Suez crisis and
the Hungarian Uprising intensify the Cold War. John
Symons skilfully portrays how world events, including
the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, the
Solidarity movement in Poland in the early 1980s, the
end of Communism in Eastern Europe in 1989 and in the
Soviet Union in 1991, affected the lives of the four
children and their families in their respective
countries. The author draws on Russian documents not yet
available in English to paint a picture of the Cold War
in human terms and to show its origins in the rise of
Lenin, Hitler and Stalin and the Second World War. A
Tear in the Curtain can be read with pleasure and
interest by three generations. It is narrated in simple,
clear and fast-moving language that engages young
people, including those taking GCSE history. A fifteen
year-old boy with dyslexia was absorbed by the story and
read it, twice, in thirty six hours. He said how much it
helped him to see the meaning of Hitler and the Second
World War which he was studying for his exams. His
mother loved the book's atmosphere and poetic sense of
hope amid the fear and anxiety of the events described.
And, for an older generation, A Tear in the Curtain
expresses the meaning of all that shaped their lives
after 1945. John Symons is a classical and modern
historian with a passionate interest in Russia and the
Soviet Union. He has travelled widely in Eastern Europe
and Russia and has visited a former GULAG prison camp in
Siberia. Described by a British Ambassador to Russia as
'an enthusiastic Russophile', his talks with people
persecuted or imprisoned by the Gestapo or KGB give the
book the ring of truth. He is the author of two
biographies, Stranger on the Shore and This Life of
Grace. John Symons describes the tragedies that struck
at the heart of a poor but devoted Cornish family.
Humanity and the valour of the human spirit shine from
every page.' This England reviewing Stranger on the
Shore 'The writer is a consummate artist in style, with
a poet's eye for detail. The story is exceptionally
vivid ...expressing deep faith and perception of the
meaning of life ...' Professor C.F.D. Moule, Cambridge,
on Stranger on the Shore. PROMOTION: This book will be
reviewed in the local and national press. Ideal for
giving GCSE and A level History students a taste of the
human impact of the Cold War.
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