Natalya

Book excerpt: The year 1917 finds Russia in complete chaos as the long anticipated winds of revolution finally sweep across the country. The Tsar, Nicholas II, has been forced to abdicate and he and his family have been sent into exile in Siberia. Meanwhile, throughout Russia numerous plans are being formulated to free the Romanovs from their captivity. One of these plans comes to involve Natalya Karakova, once a leading light in Russian high society. But now, she and her husband, Constantine, find themselves much reduced in circumstances and barely clinging to what is left of their once glamorous existence. One of Natalyas fellow conspirators is an Englishman named Jack Christie. As the two of them set off for Siberia and the dangers that lay ahead, they both realize they are falling in love. And they both also realize their plan has a mi