Year of Night tells the story of a young Russian
émigré and her struggle to free herself from a net of
conflicting loyalties, passions and betrayal amid the
colour and excitement of 1920s Paris. In the chaos of
Revolutionary Russia, 18-year-old Nadia Serova is forced
to flee with false papers provided by her mysterious
'Uncle Igor', a charismatic photographer. Igor confesses
that he is a key member of 'The Trust' - a secret
anti-Bolshevik organisation run from the heart of the
Kremlin, known only as 'Moscow'. Igor recruits her as
his partner and they swear a blood oath of allegiance.
In Paris, they join a flood of White Russian émigrés:
officers, philosophers, poets, bohemians and former
aristocrats who haunt Montparnasse and Billancourt,
scraping a living, quarrelling and living in a hotbed of
gossip and conspiracies as they plot the inevitable
Bolshevik collapse, and their return. Nadia befriends
Arensky, a former White general, secretly creating an
anti-Bolshevik force; at the same time, she meets
Alyosha, who dreams of uniting both Reds and Whites. Her
relationship with Igor becomes more intense; she becomes
his muse and then his mistress, although he flaunts his
relationship with his former lover. As the 'Moscow'
organisation increase pressure for action, and violence
stalks the streets of Paris, Nadia realises she might be
at the centre of a web not of her making. For who is
Igor really? And what are his real intentions? Year of
Night is a gripping work of historical romantic fiction
which explores rarely-fictionalised parts of history. It
will appeal to female readers interested in social
history and Russian culture. Kate has been inspired by a
number of authors, including Chekhov, Evelyn Waugh,
Alice Munro and Willa Cather. Year of Night is
comparable to Gillian Slovo's The Ice Palace, William
Boyd's Restless, Helen Dunmore's The Betrayal and Anna
Funder's All That I Am. A £1 donation from each
paperback will go to St Gregory's aid to disadvantaged
in Russia and the former Soviet Union.
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