Reviews

"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...Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time...The People's Act of Love will remind you of all these books....Magnificent...heart-pounding." -The Washington Post Book World

Set during the waning days of the Russian revolution, Meek's utterly absorbing novel (after The Museum of Doubt) captivates with its depiction of human nature in all its wartime extremes. In 1919, the remote Siberian town of Yazyk contains a strange brew of humanity: the docile members of a mystical Christian sect, whose longing for purity drives them to self-mutilation; a small outfit of Czech troops, marooned by the civil war and led by the mad cocaine-snorting Captain Matula; and "the widow" Anna Petrovna, whose passion for worldly things (e.g., photography and men) isolates her from the devout townspeople. When the charismatic revolutionary, Samarin, trudges into town with a harrowing tale of escape from a distant labor camp and a dangerous philosophy, Yazyk becomes a theater of bloodshed and betrayal as well as heroism and compassion. Using the town as a microcosm of the larger war, Meek illuminates both perverted ideology and irrepressible humanity. With confident prose, layered storytelling and prodigious imagination, he combines scenes of heart-pounding action and jaw-dropping revelations with moments of quiet tension and sly humor. This original, literary page-turner succeeds both with its credible psychological detail and in its grandeur and sweep. Six-city tour. (Jan.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

"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"...Lermontov's "A Hero of Our Time"..."The People's Act of Love" will remind you of all these books....Magnificent...heart-pounding." -"The Washington Post Book World"