The Leonardo Gulag

by Kevin Doherty

Stalin’s Russia, 1950: Brilliant young artist Pasha Kalmenov is arrested and sent without trial to a forced-labor camp in the Arctic gulag. This is a camp like no other. Although conditions are harsh and degrading, the prisoners are not to be worked to death in a coal mine or on a construction project. Their task is to forge the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. There is a high price to be paid for failing to reach the required standard of perfection, particularly as the camp commandant has his own secret agenda. When the executions begin, Pasha realizes that only his artistic talent can protect him. But for how long? Worse horrors are to come—if he survives them, will life still be worth living? The Leonardo Gulag journeys to the sinister heart of Stalin’s regime of terror, where paranoia reigns and no one is safe, and in which the whims of one man determine the fate of millions. Ultimately, the novel presents a moving portrait of the indomitability of the human spirit.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Art, Mystery, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Historical

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 3, 2020

About the author

Kevin Doherty is the author of the novels Landscape of Shadows, The Leonardo Gulag, Villa Normandie, Charlie's War, and Patriots.

Landscape of Shadows is set in a small French town in Nazi-occupied France. Two German troopers are assassinated. The town's mayor faces a terrible choice: surrender the headstrong and beautiful Resistance fighter to whom he is secretly giving refuge, or let the German commander execute ten innocent citizens in her place.

The Leonardo Gulag takes us to the heart of Stalin's regime of terror when a brilliant young artist is forced to make perfect forgeries of the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. It is a tale of survival against all odds.

Villa Normandie is set in Nazi-occupied France in the weeks before D-Day. It presents a vivid portrait of life under Nazi occupation and is a moving tale of the French Resistance and the struggle for freedom.

Charlie's War tells the story of a Spitfire pilot shot down in German-occupied France near a town that holds a terrible secret for him. Dare the local villagers help him - and who is the mysterious stranger who comes to his aid?

Patriots is a gripping espionage thriller set in 1980s Russia and Britain. It is a story of power politics and betrayal at the highest levels of government and the intelligence services.

Kevin Doherty has worked in advertising and marketing, has been a director of a number of major British and international companies, and has advised businesses and government agencies in Britain and Europe.

He lives in Berkshire, England, with his wife Roz. They have three sons.

Visit www.kevindoherty.com for more about Kevin Doherty and his novels, and to contact him.

Reviews

[MarilynW · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Leonardo Gulag by Kevin Doherty

Although the Leonardo Gulag is fictional, Stalin's rule of terror was all too real. It's 1950 and twenty year old outstanding artist, Pasha Kalmenov, is pulled from his tiny one room apartment where he lives with his street cleaner mother. What little they have is so much more than that of most of the people in their area. They are just glad to have meals at all, a room to sleep in, and for Pasha, his studies under a famous art expert may have been his saving grace until that same privilege becomes his worst nightmare.

Pasha becomes one of twenty prisoners of the Leonardo Gulag, made especially to imprison these artists. Their one job is to create perfect copies of Leonardo da Vinci's drawings. Unlike the prisoners in the other gulags, they have enough food to survive, they have heat in their barracks, they have warm clothes, and they aren't being worked literally to death. But, there is of no sense of peace or safety and there will be no escape from their Arctic prison. Whether the prisoners will admit it or not, most of them know that there will be no life after the gulag. Whatever their purpose is in the gulag, at some point they won't be needed anymore. Death is always a moment away, whether by disease, weather, or execution by their captors.

And the executions start eventually. The artists are being weeded out, only the best will remain, and in the end, the being the best will never be enough to stay alive. Pasha and his gulag friends, friends for life now, live a life of fear and despair. They know if they could even attempt to escape, their families will suffer torture and death, if they are even still alive.

This story brings to life the horrors of Stalin's reign for anyone in his domain. Even the people who don't live in gulags live under the constant threat of imprisonment and death. Any misstep can be the end of them and their families. To stay alive can mean betraying everyone and everything dear to the soul. Death is a welcome escape when living under the tyranny of Stalin's regime.

Everything is told in a very matter of fact way and doing so allows all the brutality to shine without romanticizing the story. The weight of hopelessness is almost unbearable. There is no escape except maybe through madness while alive or through death. Still, some of the prisoners find something to live for in each single moment even if there is no hope for a future or even the next moment. As hard as this story was to read, it's so worth telling and I'm glad that I read it and know more about the things that should never have happened, should not be allowed to happen now, and should not be allowed to happen in the future.

Pub Mar 16 2021

Thank you to Oceanview Publishing and Edelweiss for this ARC.

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An audacious and vindictive plan, carried out in its cruelest form. That pretty much says it all. A wonderful book by Kevin Doherty about a plan by Josef Stalin to "get back" at his despised allied, Roosevelt and Churchill. A true peasant at heart, and despite all the post-WW2 gains by Russia, Stalin now wants to make perfect forgeries of paintings secreted to him by an English spy. The secret police round up 20 artists and take them far into the Arctic Circle north of the city of Vorkuta - the coldest city in Europe. They are not criminals just the best artists and work for years under extreme conditions to make these forgeries. Unless you are the best, you are taken outside and get a bullet to the back of the head. The plan is to keep the real Leonardo paintings and exchange then with perfect forgeries. It is a story of a plan, of hardship, and of 3 people who became friends. Very good plot with enough character development to keep everyone and everything straight. Kevin Doherty is fast becoming one of my favorite authors and if you get a chance you should give this book a try.

[LIsa Noell "Rocking the chutzpah!" · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to Ocean view publishing, Mr. Doherty and Netgalley. Location, location, location! I loved not only the location, but the timeline that swept back and forth! I'm in agreement with everyone that not only this period of time would suck, but also the before and after. Yet, as is often true, no matter where we are and our circumstances...so long as we aren't in a single cell, then we will find compadres. This is a book that took me months to read. Heck, I was never even certain that I'd finish it! But, I kept reading. One day it was 30 pages. Next 2 weeks it was 2 pages a day. I have a bad habit of requesting books like these that I can't review on the time required. Normally I'll leave a note to the publisher's saying "so sorry, Charlie!" Or along those lines! This is one I kept reading though.

[Jypsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for a complimentary copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

The Leonardo Gulag
By: Kevin Doherty

REVIEW ☆☆☆☆
The premise of The Leonardo Gulag is really fascinating. It's something I have never heard about before this book. Expecting perfect replication, the captors have no sympathy for imperfection. Can you imagine facing death this way? It's a tense story that will keep you riveted and wanting more. Any fan of art history should definitely take a look at this book. I enjoyed it and recommend because it's different and well done.

[Sherwood Smith]

This gripping, unusual historical novel combines the weird world of art forgery with the staggeringly cruel Stalinist regime, including life in the gulag.

I found the narrative device (switching inside various POVs, including Stalin, briefly, and Sir Anthony Blunt, the long-successful Soviet spy) combined with present tense somewhat jarring, but those were bumps in an otherwise twisty road that kept me engrossed half the night.

Pasha is a gifted artist, chosen out of the very poor with little prospect of advancement by a university artist, who trains him. He's nearing the end of his training when he's abruptly plucked from his home by the secret police, and sent via cattle car to a gulag, where he discovers himself among a lot of other artists also plucked abruptly from home. They are there to reproduce Leonardo da Vinci drawings, presumably among the loot Stalin got from Berlin, but also funneled to him via Blunt (who was a real spy).

I have never studied Stalinist USSR in depth as the level of human misery was so profoundly awful, but from what I've picked up, what happens to Pasha has the ring of truth. Through it, glancingly, Doherty conveys what happens when the mass of people believe the government propaganda and worship a thoroughly toxic leader.

But the camera stays firmly on Pasha, who in spite of the horror, goes to a silent place inside when drawing.

What happens to him, to those in their particular camp and afterward, is convincing, heart-breaking, affirming by turns.

Copy provided by NetGalley

[Eric · Rating 1 out of 5]

I so much wanted to like this book. As a gulag geek, I've long been dismayed that more fiction isn't devoted to the topic. It's a rich source for compelling dramatic tales in all sorts of genres. Outside of Solzhenitsyn, this is the first gulag-featured novel I've seen. Hopes were high.

And then I started reading it.

First, what I liked. The premise is intriguing. Including historical characters like Stalin and Beria and Anthony Blunt. That's about it.

To sum up everything I didn't like, the writing lets down the premise and historical characters. The author spends far too much time telling rather than showing and is far too heavy-handed getting the point across that the gulag is a Bad Thing. By that I mean he actually tells us that it's bad as opposed to showing us how it's bad.

Additionally, the characters are paper-thin, many don't even get names, and the brief sections that do contain the historical characters are awful.

I like that there is a gulag-centered novel out there. I'm very disappointed that it's this one.

[ManOfLaBook.com · Rating 4 out of 5]

For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

The Leonardo Gulag by Kevin Doherty is a novel which tells of a young Russian artist, who has been arrested by the Stalin regime and put in a gulag, forced to create art forgeries. Mr. Koherty is an established author from England.

In 1950s Russia, a young artist named Pasha kalmenov has been arrested for unknown reasons, and sent to a gulag in the Arctic. Once there, Pasha discovers that he is part of small group of artists forced to make forgeries of drawings originally created by the famed Leonardo de Vinci.

The artists have no idea why they are doing this work, and for whom. It is soon discovered that the artists whose forgeries are not up to par are being executed, only Pasha’s talent can extend his life.

I have read several books on Leonard de Vinci, and when I read the description it sounded interesting, and a different take. The Leonardo Gulag by Kevin Doherty did not disappoint, even though it was not what I was expecting.

Leonardo himself, or his art, is a subplot do not really play any part in the story except moving it forward, and providing some background for the narrative. That being said, this is not a book about art, but about artist and I knew that going in.

Half the book takes places in a Russian gulag during the reign of Stalin. The author manages to capture the sense of isolation, danger, loneliness, and impending doom the protagonist, Pasha kalmenov, feels during that part of the story.

The latter part of the book takes Pasha and makes him a foreigner in his own home. There are many books, fiction and non-fiction alike, which deal with this subject and it is always sad story. Sometimes the characters come out on top, but mostly those are stories which deal with the inner elements of one’s personality and the ability, or inability, to deal with such stark change.

The author captured the feeling of being a foreigner in a place which you intimately know very well. It is a feeling many of us get after visiting our childhood home town, after many years of absence. Things are the same, but not really. A street might look familiar, but it is strangely changed from how you remember it (could be smaller, wider, different stores).

The author weaves many historical figures and events into the story, all happening in the background. From Anthony Blunt’s spying, to Stalin’s cruel reign, or the gulag’s horrific conditions, one gets the feeling of moving through history through a fictional narrative.

Most of all, this is a story of survival by a least likely candidate. Pasha has lots of help, and lots of luck, but he is determined to make it through.

[Bookreporter.com Mystery & Thriller · Rating 4 out of 5]

The term Kafkaesque implies a surreal distortion and sense of impending danger. It’s derived from the writings of Prague-born Franz Kafka (1883-1924), perhaps best personified in THE METAMORPHOSIS. Kafka employed elements of the fantastic and alienation, in which isolated protagonists face incomprehensible social or bureaucratic consummate control --- thwarted existentialism.

Such is the world of university art student Pasha Kalmenov, a Stalin-era artist a year out of his teens. One frozen night in a Moscow suburb in 1950, he’s rousted by gestapo who produce no warrant or identification, and confiscate his documents. “Every adult citizen has to have an internal passport. The propiska is the residency permit, also obligatory.” Without papers, Pasha can be executed sans cause.

He’s forced into a cattle car containing others with artistic talents. They’re transported through Siberia, to a special gulag north of the Arctic Circle, “the bleakest reaches of the USSR.” No chance for escape. The conscript comrades are coerced to replicate in precise detail original drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. Those who fail are executed. Pasha “has stepped into a vision of hell.” Without the warmth.

How original da Vinci drawings come to be housed at the gulag is a subplot involving Sir Anthony Frederick Blunt, England’s Surveyor of the King’s Pictures. Given that Blunt was a Soviet spy emboldens intrigue.

Pasha survives three years of intense cruelty, through his talent. “There is a special place within him where he goes when he is drawing.” As gulag artists are executed --- some frozen on electrified fences, in Dante’s Inferno-like imagery --- Pasha resolves to escape.

This is not an uplifting tale, but one of survival. Pasha does, however, prevail.

Anyone who considers reading this intense and grim thriller should first view the epic 1965 drama, Doctor Zhivago, fictionalized during the 1918 Russian civil war. Perhaps THE LEONARDO GULAG is a dire prognostication of socialism, portrayed during the 1922–91 reign of the USSR --- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Reviewed by L. Dean Murphy

[Jean Kolinofsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stalin was a leader to be feared and his gulag system was filled with dissidents, criminals and citizens arrested for no apparent reason. Pasha Kalmenov was an artist who found himself in a gulag simply because he had an incredible talent. At the age of eight he was singled out by his teacher for his ability to draw and was accepted for further training in Moscow. At the age of twenty he was taken by the militia and transported with other artists to the Leonardo Gulag. Rather than working in mines or hard labor, their task was to reproduce the works of Leonardo da Vinci.

Feeling humiliated in the presence of Churchill and Roosevelt, Stalin plotted his revenge. With the death of Roosevelt, he concentrated his efforts on England. Anthony Blunt, Surveyor of the King’s Pictures, secretly worked for Russia, smuggling original works of art to be copied at the gulag. The copies would later be returned to England with the originals going into Stalin’s collection. The artists were judged on their work and only perfection assured their survival.

Meager rations, below zero temperatures and the threat of typhus brought the artists together. Relationships were formed and Pavel became close to Victor and Irina. After months of practice, special paper was brought in with the original works and the killings started for those artists deemed imperfect, with everyone living in fear of being called away from their work table.

Pavel grows from a naive young man who is sure that he was taken by mistake to a survivor. It is his friendship with Victor that keeps him going. Even after disaster strikes, it is the memory of those he has lost that sees him through. This is a story of determination and the will to survive. It will stay with you long after the last page has been turned. I would like to thank Oceanview Publishing and NetGalley for providing this book for my review.

[Heather L · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very good book, it starts in the 1950’s in Russia, Stalin is in power and Gulags are populated by pretty much anyone that runs afoul of Russian authorities. Our main character is Pasha Kalmenov a talented artist who is exempt from working so he can continue to develop his artistic ability. One night a militia team arrive at his apartment and arrest him. He eventually ends up in a gulag in northern Russian, within the Arctic Circle. It is numbingly cold and there is a significant amount of snow. Pasha and a number of others are isolated, they have their own dormitories for the men and women and are treated well, to the extent that they are not beaten or forced to do manual labour for hours on end. They instead are tasked with creating perfect forgeries of Leonardo da Vinci drawings, the forgeries must be perfect in all respects, if not, well you don’t want to be one who is found to be not perfect. This was a very engaging read, I found the pages flew by, highly recommended. The author provided some historical detail at the end, some of the characters and events had were based on events that had actually occurred. Thank you to the author and publisher for the ARC.

[Maria Beltrami · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Stalin's Soviet Union, people were arrested at whim and disappeared, often never to return, to the notorious Gulags of Siberia. Thus, despite his mother's despair, the arrest of Pasha, a young and talented draftsman, and his subsequent deportation, have nothing strange about them. Strange, however, is the Gulag where the boy finds himself, where all the other prisoners are all artists of good calibre; the living conditions, however harsh, are much better than in other similar places and the sentence, if one can call it that, is to reproduce Leonardo's sketches. Slowly, however, Pasha understands the design that led to the creation of that strange Gulag and the Chinese box of betrayals triggered by the greed of the dictator and the entire system.
The novel is very enjoyable and well-written, the historical and character reconstruction is perfect; the final part, however, has a few too many long passages.

[Suanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Leonardo Gulag is a fascinating work. I chose to read it because it combined art and intrigue, much like my favorite spy novels, the Gabriel Allon series by David Silva. In it, young art student, Pasha Kalmenov, is rousted from his bed by the police and taken away despite his and his mother’s protests that he’s done nothing wrong. He’s forced into a cattle car, but unlike the political prisoners in neighboring cars, he’s given food, breaks to exercise, and warmer clothing. The political prisoners are dropped off along the way, but Pasha and other artists like him are taken to a gulag far beyond the Arctic Circle. They are forced to duplicate original drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. If an artists work doesn’t meet the strict criteria, they are executed.

This is an intense read, a story of personal strength and determination—and the will to survive.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following WWII some high ranking members of the Russian secret service under Joseph Stalin engaged in all sorts of conspiracies to steal valuable works of art from throughout Europe. Kevin Doherty's novel "The Leonardo Gulag" tells the amazing story of one such scheme that involves the forging of dozens of Leonardo DiVinci's priceless sketches.using originals stolen from the Queen of England's art collection. To pull this off some of Russia's most talented artists are captured and sent to a gulag prison camp at the most desolate location in the frozen Arctic to draw near perfect forgeries copying from the stolen originals. Doherty's novel described in brutal detail the suffering endured by this group of artists and the eventual escape attempted by the youngest and most talented of the group. This is a fascinating story that's very tough to put down right up the last page.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in the Gulag from 1950-1953 and with a 1979 postscript, this is a great story of survival with a subtle spiritual dimension. Pasha Kalmenov is a young artist taken with 19 others to a highly secret camp near Vorkuta to forge Da Vinci’s drawings on a whim of Stalin. There, although privileged by gulag standards, death is ever present, and the demise of Stalin provokes a crisis. A few little missteps (like ex-Zeks being allowed back to Moscow) but it is an engrossing read with a vivid rendition of the cold and a capricious existence

[Andrew Cutler · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely great book centered around a special gulag camp with only artists as inmates. Their task- create exact replicas of Leonardo da Vinci’ sketches in a scheme byStalin to steal the originals and replace them with forgeries. The author brilliantly creates characters centered around Pasha, the most talented of them all. All the horrors of the gulag are achingly presented.
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

[Oceanview Publishing · Rating 5 out of 5]

This goes to the top of my recent reading history.
A young boy in the direst of circumstances in Stalin's post WW II Russia.
Taken in the night to the arctic camp to replicate Leonardo's work.
If he fails, death.
If he succeeds, he can continue to live, but in the most horrific of circumstances.
Can there be any hope?
A study in human resilience and a story so mesmerizing, you cannot stop reading. You have to know what will happen.
Exceptionally highly recommended.

[Maria Nemelivsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting novel incorporating the gruesome history and Stalin's regime as well as personal relationships during this period of time. A young promising artist, arrested in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. The heartache of a mother that lost her only son and her only reason for living and in search for him for the rest of her days of earth. A love story emerging amongst the harsh conditions in the gulag. Definitely a must read for someone who enjoys drama as well as history.

[Diane Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodreads giveaway winner..

I enjoyed this book, it is when Stalin is in power in Russia in the 1950's. Pasha who is a talented artist is arrested for no reason and put in a Gulag. He is with a bunch of artists in the Artic Circle. They are tasked with creating perfect forgeries of Leonardo da Vinci drawings. If the forgeries are not perfect in all respects there will be consequences.

Caught my interest and a good read of survival.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this book 4 stars as far as a thriller book goes. It kind of got a little ridiculous for a bit about 3/4 of the way through book and strayed into action movie territory. It did redeem itself towards the end. I was hoping that I would get to the notes and find historical reference for this, but alas it was just fiction. I did like how the book did have characters who did exist in the timeframe of the novel.

[Polly Krize · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In 1950s Russia, Stalin sent many artists to gulags to forge the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. The plan was to switch these forgeries and steal the originals. The lives of the various artists are well written about and their plight well explained.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

A painful exploration of the brutal Russian gulag experience through the eyes of a young artist. The story is at its most gripping in describing the prisoners’ experience. The backdrop and intrigue around the stolen works of Leonardo is creative but ultimately is just windows dressing. It could have been another conceit and the story probably would have been just as good.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gripping read, with excellent descriptions of mid-century Soviet fears and faith in the Party and cult of Josef Stalin.Nicely riffed off the penetration of the British establishment by communist agents

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful

I knew a little regarding the British side from the Netflix show, The Crown. It is such an easy read and truly difficult to put down. Highly recommend.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really original

Great plot and characters. Totally different from the usual thriller. I would read another one of his works any time.

[Rachel Pilling · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars! This is definitely a historical fiction novel that you shouldn’t skip! It was immersive, heartbreaking, and I loved learning about Russia from the eyes of Pasha.

[Blake Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good plot idea started to feel rushed in the end. Also weird to be in Stalin’s brain for a few chapters. Communism be weird

[oohlalabooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been reading historical fiction that gives the perspective from Europeans and they’ve all been great including this one. The gulag is a harsh, dark place with men forced to forge Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings. Some parts were intense but overall the author was able to give the men a purpose. I won this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Energy Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Artists are being rounded up and sent to the Gulag without reason. Their families have no idea where they are being sent and they have no way to get ahold of them. The real reason for the secrecy? Forgeries. Pasha is tasked with redrawing Leonardo's drawings, over and over again. During his time in the Gulag, he befriends other artists. It is through their friendship that Pasha desires to escape this madness and be free, to return home to his mama who has been fraught with worry in the years of his absence.

I always appreciate historical fiction and Doherty has done well giving Pasha and the others he was imprisoned with a voice. It was not an easy thing to try and survive the hardships of the Gulag, especially one that no one knew about. While Pasha's story is fictional, the problems that he and others faced are very real to the prisoners who have been sent there. While I felt the story was a bit slow at times, and certain scenes unnecessarily drawn out, it's a compelling read. Well done.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an emotional roller coaster this book was! Just as life becomes predictable and Pasha Kalmenov settles into a routine, the rug is pulled out from under him and. BANG! He's down at the bottom again, clawing his way up to what he hopes will be "normalcy". His time in the gulag is excruciating, but through his friendship with Viktor and using his own very sharp mind and his wits, he stays alive.

Doherty's descriptions of the cold, the food, the abysmal conditions which keep the prisoners miserable, but not dead, are spot on. I felt the conditions. I ached with their yearnings. I, too, despaired.

Read this incredible look at Josef Stalin and the means he uses to subdue any dissidence, political or otherwise. He was absolutely cold and ruthless.

I read this EARC courtesy of Edelweiss and Oceanview Publishing; pub date 03/03/2020