Russka

Panoramic, sweeping, monumental, haunting: a story of four families which spans the centuries of Russia from Edward Rutherford, the author ofParis, LondonandNew York.

In this vast and gorgeous tapestry of a novel, serf and master, Cossack and tsar, priest and Jew are brought together in a family saga which unrolls through centuries of history to reveal that most impenetrable and mysterious of lands - Russia. Through the life of a little town east of Moscow in the Russian heartland, Edward Rutherfurd creates a sweeping family saga from the baffling contradictions of Russia's culture and her peoples - bleak yet exotic, brutal but romantic, land of ritual yet riddled with superstitious fears. From Russia's dawn and the cruel Tatar invasions to Ivan the Terrible and the wild Cossacks, from Peter, Catherine and the days of War and Peace to the drama of the Revolution and the extraordinary events of today - here is Russia's story in a spellbinding novel - history recreated with breathtaking detail and passion.

Edward Rutherfurd was born in England, in the cathedral city of Salisbury. Educated locally, and at the universities of Cambridge, and Stanford, California, he worked in political research, bookselling and publishing. After numerous attempts to write books and plays, he finally abandoned his career in the book trade in 1983, and returned to his childhood home to writeSarum. Four years later, when the book was published, it became an instant international bestseller, remaining 23 weeks on theNew York TimesBestseller List.

Since then he has written seven more bestsellers:Russka, a novel of Russia;London;The Forest, set in England's New Forest which lies close by Sarum; two novels which cover the story of Ireland from the time just before Saint Patrick to the twentieth century;New York; andParis. His books have been translated into over twenty languages.

Panoramic, sweeping, monumental, haunting: a story of four families which spans the centuries of Russia from Edward Rutherford, the author of Paris, London and New York.