“This audiobook is an example of a book that is better to experience as a listener than as a reader…Narrator Simon Bubb masterfully conveys the physical and psychological trauma Golden experiences, allowing listeners to empathize with the prisoner’s deepest fears and emotions…Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” AudioFile
Description
The stunning new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Romanovs and Jerusalem, set during an epic cavalry ride across the hot grasslands outside Stalingrad during the darkest times of World War II
“The black earth was already baking and the sun was just rising when they mounted their horses and rode across the grasslands towards the horizon on fire …”
Imprisoned in the Gulags for a crime he did not commit, Benya Golden joins a penal battalion made up of Cossacks and convicts to fight the Nazis. He enrolls in the Russian cavalry, and on a hot summer day in July 1942, he and his band of brothers are sent on a suicide mission behind enemy lines―but is there a traitor among them? The only thing Benya can truly trust is his horse, Silver Socks, and that he will find no mercy in the onslaught of Hitler’s troops as they push east.
Spanning ten epic days, between Benya’s war on the grasslands of southern Russia and Stalin’s intrigues in the Kremlin, between Benya’s intense affair with an Italian nurse and a romance between Stalin’s daughter and a war correspondent, this is a sweeping story of passion, bravery, and survival―where betrayal is a constant companion, death just a heartbeat away, and love, however fleeting, offers a glimmer of redemption.
Praise
“This audiobook is an example of a book that is better to experience as a listener than as a reader…Narrator Simon Bubb masterfully conveys the physical and psychological trauma Golden experiences, allowing listeners to empathize with the prisoner’s deepest fears and emotions…Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” AudioFile
“Intensely moving, with an unforgettable climax that will touch the hardest heart.” Jung Chang, New York Times bestselling author
“Montefiore has legions of fans for his histories, but his Moscow Trilogy opens the floodgates to the imaginative re-creation of archival facts…Benya’s story animates a ten-day, desperate struggle in Stalin’s huge gamble against the Nazi war machine. World War II fiction aficionados will want to read this.” Library Journal
“Pursued as a Jew by the Nazis and as a defector by the Allies, Golden must choose between losing his love and endangering her life…The gritty war scenes and the lovers’ pursuit keep the pages turning.” Kirkus Reviews
“A dispatch from the days of blood and thunder. Benya’s struggle to keep his humanity is the memorable spine of the book.” Times (London)
Details
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Release Day | Jan 1, 2018 |
| Release Date | January 2, 2018 |
| Number in Series | 3 |
| Series Display String | The Moscow Trilogy |
| Release Date Machine | 1514851200 |
| Imprint | Blackstone Publishing |
| Provider | Blackstone Publishing |
| Categories | Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction, Historical Fiction, War & Military, Fiction - All, Fiction - Adult |
Author Bio
Simon Sebag Montefiore is a historian specializing in Russia. Born in 1965, he read history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. The author of several novels and a presenter of television documentaries, he is married with two children and lives in London.
Narrator Bio
Simon Bubb is an audiobook narrator known for his subtlety, nuanced tone, and facility with accents as an integral component of his narration, according to AudioFile magazine.
Overview
The stunning new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Romanovs and Jerusalem, set during an epic cavalry ride across the hot grasslands outside Stalingrad during the darkest times of World War II
“The black earth was already baking and the sun was just rising when they mounted their horses and rode across the grasslands towards the horizon on fire …”
Imprisoned in the Gulags for a crime he did not commit, Benya Golden joins a penal battalion made up of Cossacks and convicts to fight the Nazis. He enrolls in the Russian cavalry, and on a hot summer day in July 1942, he and his band of brothers are sent on a suicide mission behind enemy lines―but is there a traitor among them? The only thing Benya can truly trust is his horse, Silver Socks, and that he will find no mercy in the onslaught of Hitler’s troops as they push east.
Spanning ten epic days, between Benya’s war on the grasslands of southern Russia and Stalin’s intrigues in the Kremlin, between Benya’s intense affair with an Italian nurse and a romance between Stalin’s daughter and a war correspondent, this is a sweeping story of passion, bravery, and survival―where betrayal is a constant companion, death just a heartbeat away, and love, however fleeting, offers a glimmer of redemption.
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