About this item
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 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.
About the Author
Simon Sebag Montefiore is the internationally bestselling author of prize-winning works of history, novels and books for children. His latest book, WRITTEN IN HISTORY: LETTERS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD, is a selection of great letters from ancient times to the 21st century, including letters on power, love, art, sex, faith, war. His next book VOICES OF HISTORY: SPEECHES THAT CHANGED THE WORLD is due to be published in September. Montefiore's history titles include: WRITTEN IN HISTORY: LETTERS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD, THE ROMANOVS, JERUSALEM: THE BIOGRAPHY, YOUNG STALIN, STALIN: THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR and CATHERINE THE GREAT & POTEMKIN. He is the author of the Moscow Trilogy of novels: SASHENKA, RED SKY AT NOON and ONE NIGHT IN WINTER. Montefiore is also the author of a series of childrens' novels - ROYAL RABBITS OF LONDON - co-written with Santa Montefiore. Montefiore has won prizes for his works, both non-fiction and fiction. His novel, ONE NIGHT IN WINTER won the Best Political Novel of the Year Prize and was longlisted for the Orwell Prize. Among his history books, CATHERINE THE GREAT & POTEMKIN was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson, Duff Cooper, and Marsh Biography Prizes. STALIN: THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR won the History Book of the Year Prize at the British Book Awards. YOUNG STALIN won the Costa Biography Award (UK) , the LA Times Book Prize for Biography (USA) , Le Grand Prix de la Biographie Politique (France) and the Kreisky Prize for Political Literature (Austria) . JERUSALEM: THE BIOGRAPHY was a global number 1 bestseller and won the Wenjin Book of the Year Prize (awarded by the Library of China in People's Republic of China) and the Book of the Year Prize from the Jewish Book Council (USA) . THE ROMANOVS won the Lupicaia del Terriccio Literature Prize (Italy) , was chosen as one of Oprah Winfrey's Books of the Year (USA) and has been a bestseller all over the world, including the UK, Australia, Brazil, Spain and the USA where it was in the New York Times bestseller list for eight weeks. Many of his books are now being developed as TV drama series or movies. Montefiore read history at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge University where he was awarded his Doctorate of Philosophy. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Visiting Professor at the University of Buckingham, Dr Montefiore has written and presented fiver BBC TV series including Jerusalem (2011) ; Rome (2012) and Istanbul/Constantinople - 'Byzantium: a tale of 3 cities' (2013) ; Spain - 'Blood & Gold' (2015) and Vienna (2016) . Follow the author on twitter: @simonmontefiore. For more information: www.simonsebagmontefiore.com
