Survivors

by Christopher Meyer

On a wintry day in St Petersburg, Katya – the Countess Ekaterina Polkonina – gives birth to a baby girl. But outside the cloistered confines of the Polkonin family palace, the Russian Revolution stalks the streets.

All too soon, Katya’s aristocratic world crumbles around her. With her husband Andrey away at the front, she must learn to adapt to protect herself and her two young daughters. As the tumult in Russia spills onto the global stage – and Katya and Andrey’s relationship splinters under the pressure – the Polkonin family find themselves adrift in a rapidly changing world. A world where old ways, old rules and old loves fall away in the face of new dangers, new passions and newfound courage.

This sweeping family saga follows Katya across the world during one of the most turbulent periods in modern history, from the turmoil of the First World War and the Russian Civil War to exile in Manchuria and then China. When Japan enters the Second World War, Katya will once more find herself at the heart of history, in a time of affairs, betrayals and adventures.

476 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 13, 2023

Reviews

[Ian Durant · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a shame! Christopher Meyer’s manuscript for this novel, based on his mother in law’s experience as member of an aristocratic Russian family escaping the Russian Revolution to China and onward, was unfinished. His wife put together the novel after the author’s death and it was published, it seems, privately and to order. The result? An extraordinary family drama which feels like it hasn’t been edited, with an inconsistent style, poor characterisation and sometimes an almost adolescently naive plot development. I’m sorry bit it failed on any number of literary levels and left one wondering how much of the extraordinary tale was true …