How Stalin isolated and pampered Western journalists in the gilded cage of the Metropol Hotel in order to control their output: their translators were often paid to share their beds, but oth... read more
A witness to the Beslan massacre, the former Moscow correspondent sought to ease his soul and deepen his understanding of the roots of violence by taking a 1000-mile walk along the political... read more
Painter, explorer, writer, archaeologist and theosophist, Roerich was a key figure for Diaghilev and Stravinsky for whom he designed sets and costumes (including The Rite of Spring). He was ... read more
A chilly outing for disgraced Colonel Alexander Vasin (whom we've met in a variety of scrapes in Black Sun and Red Traitor), fleeing across the wintry Siberian tundra with a man and a secret... read more
Set in Siberia in the 1970s, the adult narrator looks back on his friendship with an Armenian boy. Other slim but lyrically powerful novels by this great Russian/French novelist include Test... read more