White Blood

by James Fleming

Riding out World War I in his family home near Smolensk at the side of his beloved new wife, naturalist Charlie Doig finds himself trapped during a snowstorm by a motley group of aristocrats, servants, and soldiers, one of whom Charlie fears is a Bolshevik out to destroy them all. By the author of Thomas Gage. 50,000 first printing.

Genres: Fiction, Russia, Historical

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

James Roland Fleming was an English author and editor of the journal The Book Collector from 2018 to 2024. He was the son of Richard Fleming who served in Scottish regiments during World War II (Lovat Scouts and Seaforth Highlanders) and nephew to spy author Ian Fleming.
Fleming lived for the last 20 years in the remote North of Scotland in order to concentrate on his writing. This is where his Charlie Doig Russian series gestated. Well respected in the nearest town to his estate he became an honorary "Wicker" and fully immersed himself in community life.
He wrote two historical novels, the first in 2000, The Temple of Optimism, and then in 2003 Thomas Gage.
In 2006 Fleming wrote the first in a trilogy of thrillers, Cold Blood. Two more followed: White Blood (2008) and Rising Blood (2009) that featured the Scottish/Russian character "Charlie Doig."
His 2021 book, Bond behind the Iron Curtain, examined the Russian critique of Ian Fleming.
From 2018 Fleming was the editor of The Book Collector. His essay on the process of indexing the backfile, “The Price of Passion: Indexing The Book Collector," illuminated the journal's history. In 2023 a special issue of The Book Collector was devoted to Printing and the Mind of Man in which Fleming reviewed the correspondence of Percy Muir and John Carter, key organizers of the exhibit.

Reviews

[Marvin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up on this one after 100 pages. A Russian emigre who grew up in London returns to Russia on the eve of WWI to collect birds & moths. By p. 100, he has returned to the family estate & the cousin he has fallen in love with. From the jacket flap copy, it appears that the story is about to start there, but if a book of 350 pages can't get started or otherwise capture my attention by p. 100, it doesn't deserve to be finished, even if the author is a nephew of the creator of the James Bond novels.

[Hope Paradysz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very confusing. words relate to Russian expressions, not an easy read, much description, very difficult vocabulary.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew nothing about this novel or author, and only chose it for its Russian Revolution background. Didn't really learn anything much about the revolution, but I did enjoy the book. Especially liked the main character's occasional quizzical remarks about events, though some parts of the characterisation didn't ring entirely true. Still, a good ripping yarn.

[Trent Ross · Rating 1 out of 5]

First 300 pages dragged and the last 60 were painful to get through.

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gave up around page 150. Just couldn't stand it anymore. I felt bad about that but I saw other people didn't like it either. Disconnected, mostly rambling and no story. Not for me.

[Cindy]

Too boring to finish

[Mehak Mittal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't even reach the 3rd chapter..it was soo boring!!!

[Rory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent writing but the story is a bit disconnected.

[Craig Valentine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didnt even get through this. It was incredibly boring and pointless.