A Ring Has No End

by Thomas Armstrong

The princely Kaivanov family in Russia were given their title in 1774 when Ataman Guchkor Kaivanov was involved in the bloodthirsty crushing of the Pugachev rebellion. The narrative follows the story of the family which revelled in power, luxury, cruelty and debauchery until they got their come-uppance in the Russian revolution of 1917. ‘Cowering in attics, starved and in rags, living like animals, tortured, raped, murdered, the Kaivanovs of the twentieth century paid the price for the centuries of suffering their family had inflicted’ - (from the dust jacket).

410 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Born in 1899 in Leeds to parents from mill-owning families, Thomas Armstrong attended Queen Elizabeth School, Wakefield; then studied at the Royal Naval College, Keyham, followed by service in the Royal Navy during the First World War. Finding the spit and polish of peace-time Navy life irksome, he entered the wool trade but was soon off on a roving tour of the world that lasted several years. He married in 1930 and then began writing novels, achieving success with the immediately popular The Crowthers of Bankdam, first published in 1940, which at once established him as one of Britain's leading contemporary novelists. He lived in Yorkshire, initially in the West Riding and then in Swaledale for 30 years. Throughout his life he avoided personal publicity.

Thomas Armstrong died in 1978.

Reviews

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Minor spoilers*

I came across this book whilst waiting for the bill in a local pub (pre-lockdown). It was stacked in the windowsill with a bare cover, tattered pages, and looking as though it had not been read for years- as it happened, it was published in 1958 and was the first edition.

Though it had no blurb, I was intrigued and began to read whilst we waited for the bill to arrive. Immediately I was plunged into 'A land of rape, lust, and feud to the death', and introduced to the character of Prince Aleksiei of House Kaivanov. A character who, I must admit, I assumed I would like. Strong, stoic, and respected by all his men, Prince Aleksiei is a talented military commander, and the rest of the book is spent following the exploits of his descendants through the generations- from 1854 through to Russia's communist revolution. It transpired that although Prince Aleksiei could be admired for his military prowess, his cold and toxic masculinity alienated his son, and then his grandson.

It was here that it became clear how surprisingly (for a book written by a white man in 1958) accepting the story was. Prince Aleksiei's grandson, Prince Mikhail Kaivanov, with whom we are encouraged to sympathise, is openly gay and attends parties with a trans woman, known as Mademoiselle Savinkovna. Her part in the story is minimal, and by no means revolutionary, but even her presence was a pleasant surprise in a book of this time and era.

The story then moves on to Prince Ivan Kaivanov, an aristocrat far too comfortable with his privileged lifestyle in a time when his country, 'Holy Russia', is in the throes of revolution. Finally, we move to his children, Prince Sergei and Princess Anastasia.

Princess Anastasia is the character that we get to know for the longest and in the most depth. Anastasia is a woman of depth, character, and strength- even as a child, she protests that her brother be allowed to go to school, while she must stay at home. The fact that she is 'a girl... wouldn't have mattered', she says, which proves true as she develops from her naive delusion that she will be safe from the Bolsheviks to her strong role in leading her brother and her half sister (who we would now describe as suffering from PTSD after being brutally raped) from the front lines of war to a semblance of safety. The men that she hopes to rely upon- her brother and her fiancee- repeatedly let her down, and it is up to Anastasia to ensure her own safety.

All this is not to say that 'A Ring Has No End' has no issues. Its sympathy for the ruling class, for one. Princess Anastasia does admit that 'People like [her] own have made ghastly mistakes, and we're paying for them.', but, despite being brought to essentially poverty numerous times before reaching the safety of the next aristocratic mansion, she seems to have little sympathy for the working classes . She, until the end, treats her maid badly, even when they are really reduced to the same economic standing.

Armstrong's writing seems to alternate between military strategy, which, as someone who knows little of the Russian revolution, I struggled to follow, and surprisingly vivid depictions of character. Especially in the latter half of the book the characters very much come to life, and the ending, as Russia disappears into the mist, is sad and poignant. Overall, despite my left-wing unease over sympathising with the aristocracy over the Communist forces, I really enjoyed 'A Ring Has No End'. It was a good find for a book borrowed from a local pub, and I would recommend to anyone wanting to read something out of their usual spectrum.

[Mike Glaser · Rating 3 out of 5]

A dear friend of mine gave me this book as a Christmas present years and I have finally found the time to read it. It was a good read and if there is any fault in it, it is that it is too ambitious in its scope of trying to cover over 100 years of time. The sections covering the Russian Revolution are graphic in their description of the atrocities committed but by no means unreasonable. At the end of the book you feel sorry for the Russian people while at the same time just a little convinced that they brought all these troubles on themselves.