Sashenka

The first part in Simon Sebag Montefiore's bestselling Moscow TrilogyWinter, 1916. In St Petersburg, snow is falling in a country on the brink of revolution. Beautiful and headstrong, Sashenka Zeitlin is just sixteen. As her mother parties with Rasputin and her dissolute friends, Sashenka slips into the frozen night to play her role in a dangerous game of conspiracy and seduction. Twenty years on, Sashenka has a powerful husband and two children. Around her people are disappearing but her own family is safe.But she's about to embark on a forbidden love affair which will have devastating consequences. Sashenka's story lies hidden for half a century, until a young historian goes deep into Stalin's private archives and uncovers a heart-breaking story of passion and betrayal, savage cruelty and unexpected heroism - and one woman forced to make an unbearable choice ... From warring dynasties to royal rabbits, Simon Sebag Montefiore has many strings to his literary bow. A historian, journalist, presenter, biographer and novelist he is best known for his contributions to history including Catherine the Great and Potemkin and Jerusalem: the Biography as well as two biographies of Stalin: Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar and Young Stalin (which won the Costa Biography Award). He is also the author of the acclaimed Moscow Trilogy of novels Sashenka, One Night in Winter and Red Sky at Noon as well as The Royal Rabbits of London in collaboration with his wife, the author Santa Montefiore. Read a Waterstones exclusive Q&A with Simon Sebag Montefiore where he discusses the novel Red Sky at Noon and returning to the Moscow Trilogy for a final time.