Sadly due the the present circumstances what was to have been one of my busiest ever years speaking to different groups about Russia, has turned into one of my emptiest for a long time.
All has not been a total disaster however.
I have used the extra time afforded by lock down to try my hand at writing a work of fiction. I have been thinking about it for some time and had already started on some quite extensive research to support the effort.
I am able to report that I have finished a first draft. This feels quite an achievement, but of course it is a long road from finishing the first draft and actually publishing! A bit of a blow came the other day when I discovered that I have formatted it all wrong so will now spend some happy days and weeks working on that!
I do not want to say too much about the book, which, of course may never see the light of day. It is set in Russia in the early years of the 19th Century and my hero ‘develops’ against the background of the Napoleonic Wars and the Decembrist uprising of 1825 (sometimes called the First Russian Revolution.) The book includes promising features such as handsome Guards Officers, secret policemen, a truly nasty villain and a rather damaged but beautiful heroine, There is of course also one strong female character and a ‘loveable’ urchin.
I am sure you can’t wait!
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| The uprising on Senate Square, December 1825 |