Synopses & Reviews
In a remote Siberian village, amid a lawless, unforgiving landscape, lives Anna Petrovna, a beautiful, willfully self-reliant widowed mother. A mystical, separatist Christian sect, a stranded regiment of restless Czech soldiers, and an eerie local shaman live nearby, all struggling against the elements and great social upheaval to maintain a fragile coexistence.
Out of the woods trudges Samarin, an escapee from Russia’s northernmost prison camp, with a terrifyingly outlandish story to tell about his journey. Immediately apprehended, he is brought before the Czech regiment’s megalomaniac, Captain Matula. But the stranger’s appearance has caught the attention of others, including Anna Petrovna’s.
This stranger, his bizarre story—if it is to be believed—and the apparent murder of the local shaman quickly become a flashpoint for this village: temperatures rise, alliances shift, and betrayals emerge. Written with a commanding historical authority and remarkable grace, The People’s Act of Love is an epic of desire and sacrifice that leaves the reader utterly mesmerized through to the final heart-pounding pages.
Review
The heft and passion of classic Russian literature . . .
Anna Karenina set to the rollicking pace of a modern-day thriller. Epic yet heartbreakingly intimate . . It feels like a revolution.” Andrea Simakis,
Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
Doctor Zhivago
Anna Karenina
Lermontovs A Hero of Our Time
The Peoples Act of Love will remind you of all these books
.Magnificent
heart-pounding.” The Washington Post Book World
Synopsis
Long-listed for the 2005 Man Booker Prize, the story of a Russian prison camp escapee who makes his way to a remote Siberian village recounts his fantastical adventures as imparted to the megalomaniac captain of a Czech regiment and a self-reliant widowed mother. Reprint. 50,000 first printing. $75,000 ad/promo.
Synopsis
Set during the waning days of the Russian revolution, Meek's utterly absorbing novel captivates with its depiction of human nature in all its wartime extremes. This original, literary page-turner succeeds both with its credible psychological detail and in its grandeur and sweep.--Publishers Weekly, starred review.
Synopsis
Set in a time of great social upheaval, warfare, and terrorism, and against a stark, lawless Siberia at the end of the Russian Revolution,
The Peoples Act of Love portrays the fragile coexistence of a beautiful, independent mother raising her son alone, a megalomaniac Czech captain and his restless regiment, and a mystical separatist Christian sect. When a mysterious, charismatic stranger trudges into their snowy village with a frighteningly outlandish story to tell, its balance is shaken to the core.