Orion
Children's Books, London 2007
The Russian Revolution has started, people are dying of hunger, many
are being killed for their loyalties to the Tsar or to Lenin, and in St
Petersburg, an English journalist talks to Trotsky and the men at the
British and American Embassies. He moves easily between the disparate
groups, unwittingly placing himself in grave danger, unknowingly being
watched by all camps. This man is, surprisingly, Arthur Ransome. Having
only known about this man as the author of the Swallows and Amazon series of books
published in the 1930's, I was intrigued to say the least. My interest
and curiosity lasted for the whole of the book and then some.
Arthur has gone to Russia to escape a loveless marriage. He learns
Russian within a few months, and writes articles for the major
newspapers in Britain about the civil war, interviewing the most
important people of the times. While talking to Trotsky, he meets his
secretary, Evgenia, and so begins the love affair of his life, a woman
he risks his life for. But through it all he seems quite innocent, and
only when Lockhart from the British Embassy, asks him to meet some
Latvians does he realise that Lockhart and others like him, are spies.
Sedgwick has made this story wholly engrossing, dividing it into three
novellas, each adding a layer to the intrigue. Ransome was first known
for his volume of Russian fairy stories, and this mythology runs
through the book, starting with part one. Part two tells of his time in
Russia, exposing the bloodletting which occurred, detailing Ransom's
work as a go between and part three is told as a fictionalised
biography, telling of Ransome's time with Evgenia and their efforts to
be together. Wholly engrossing, astute readers in secondary school will
revel in the details of life in such a chaotic time in European
history, marvel at the innocent abroad that was Arthur Ransome, and be
left with a multitude of questions to enrich their days. A stimulating,
thought provoking book of the highest order.
Fran Knight
© Pledger
Consulting, 2007