The Longest Winter by Daphne Wright

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russian revolution

Neither side in this struggle has a monopoly on cruelty-or on justification.

Petrograd, 1916. The Great War continues on and revolution is in the air. Grieving over the presumed deaths of both her fiancé and brother, Evelyn Markham has come to stay with her uncle and cousins, the Suvarovs. I think everyone knows what happens next, and as much as Evelyn would like to get back to England and safety, there’s no way out at the moment and she joins the Suvarovs when they head to the relative safety in the far north. Safety being a relative term, mind you, because things are seething up there as well with the White movement in full swing and the Western allies set on helping them.

The jacket blurb at Goodreads pretty much recaps it all nicely, and I’ve just wasted an hour trying to say it differently so I give up trying. I have better things to do today 😉

This was a good solid read, and focused on a bit of Russian history we don’t find often in historical novels. While I wouldn’t call Evelyn a self-centered miss, she did have a lot of growing up to do in this novel, especially when she and the younger Suvarovs retreat to Archangel (Arkhangelsk) to wait out the winter in hopes of catching a ship to England. I also liked watching the developing relationship between Evelyn and American reporter Bob Adamson, who she loathed from the start (he was somewhat supportive of the early revolutionaries). Loved it when the blinders finally fell off and her eyes were opened to the important things in life. My only real complaint is the somewhat abrupt ending – an epilogue would have rounded things out nicely.

And what did I end up taking away with me upon finishing? No matter what side of the *party* you are on, War. Is. Hell.

Somethings just never change, do they?

The Gathering Wolves by Elizabeth Darrell

Tags

Red Army, russian revolution, White movement

This bit of history is too hard to put into my own words, so I will let the author’s notes do it for me;

“The Russian Revolution and the subsequent Civil War were history dramas that drastically changed the European political map. But there is a little-known aspect of the great Russian upheaval that is as bizarre, exciting, and tragic as any other.

From early 1918 until October 1919, the arctic forests of North Russia were occupied by troops of an astonishing variety of nationality and purpose. Starting as a revival of the war on the Eastern Front when the Russians made a separate peace with Germany in the midst of the Great War of 1914-1918, the struggle took on an unexpected and complex nature when the Armistice was signed in November 1918. Former enemies became friends, old allies became hostile.

In those forests through the dark frozen winter and short summer of perpetual daylight were British, French, Italians, Czechs, Canadians, Americans, Finns, Karelians-and Russians, of course. Red Russian, White Russians, partisans, counter-revolutionaries, starving peasants, political refugees, released convicts, mercenaries-all fighting for the future of Russia and all with different aims.”

British engineer Paul Anderson takes command of a remote Russian station with orders to repair the damaged bridge and keep the railroad lines clear for allied forces. Bitter over the Russian’s withdrawal from war in 1917, Paul is none too thrilled to team with Colonel Alexander Swarovsky and the two form an uneasy alliance that is sorely tested when it’s apparent there is a traitor among their group. Is it one of the British soldiers, or is there a secret Bolshevik in Swarovsky’s troop of peasant soldiers? And what of the Red army soldiers bent on killing them all?

“Throughout this beautiful land of pines and lakes the wolves were gathering-but it was not the grey ones that would drive him away.”

Further complicating things are the colonel’s wife Irina and sister Olga. Unstable Olga is hot for Paul, but Paul only has eyes for Irina and she feels the same. Into this mix comes the unexpected appearance of  Swarovsky’s former mistress Lyudmilla Zapalova, Imperial ballerina trying to high-tail it out of Russia. Eventually, the allies pull out and Paul faces his greatest challenge, getting them all out safely from their remote outpost and to a port where ships are waiting to take him (and perhaps Irina?) back to England – not an easy task with the onset of an unforgiving Russian winter.

“Now the little engine was expected to make a four-day journey up and down dangerous inclines, across unstable bridges, round treacherous bends, and through forest under attack from biting cold.”

This book started off quite slow for me and I almost bailed a couple of times. A lot of details of building the railroad bridge were a bit tedious and I really didn’t warm up to Paul and Irina as a couple until the very end (sniff). That said, the flight to safety on the rickety railroad was some seriously riveting stuff and Darrell really keeps you on pins and needles wondering if every one will make it out alive.  Three stars for the first half and four for the latter, rounded out to 3.5.

FTC? Library loot.

DNF: The Jewel of St. Petersburg by Kate Furnivall

Tags

russian revolution, Saint Petersburg

SPOILERS AHOY!! Well, at least for the first half of the book that is 😉

Quick run down: St. Petersburg 1910 and Russia is on the verge of revolution. Valentina Ivanova is the pampered daughter of one of the Tsar’s ministers. She meets Danish engineer Jens Friis and its true love, but her parents want her to marry a wealthy Russian Count (and one with a jealous temper to boot). Valentina would rather become a nurse than dress up and go to  parties, but she needs her father’s signature on the application and strikes a bargain with him – she’ll let Captain Chernov court her and in exchange he’ll sign the papers.  Scratching your head at that? See, Chernov’s family is influential so some of that gravy train will pass down to Valentina’s father. In exchange, she gets to be a nurse. Got it now? Hope so, ’cause I don’t.

Anyhoo, Valentina loves Jens (not sure why no one notices the difference between the time the nursing shift ends and when she gets home) and they spend an afternoon together walking in the park, helping a sick peasant woman and more ending with the big love scene,

“Was her skin dead before? It must have been. Pale, lifeless and limp. Because it came alive on the reindeer rug in a way Valentina didn’t know was possible. She no longer recognized this extraordinary covering on her body as hers. Each pore, each fine layer, each smooth unexplored part of it possessed a separate existence of its own that only needed the touch of Jen’s lips to bring it to life.”

And that friends is when the book flew. I really don’t mind a good romance on occasion, nor a bit of sex, but I still want some believability in my story and I just wasn’t getting it here. An explosion in the sewers and fearing for their lives all she’s worried about is getting up close and personal with Jens? No one notices when she disappears from a formal ball and goes off unescorted with a strange man? As for the seething emotions of the dissatisfied masses? It was all rather shallow to me, more like window dressing than experiencing the *real deal*. I’d recommend Cynthia Harrod-Eagle’s Emily for a more emotional look at this period and a stronger, more believable love story along with it.