Sashenka

by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Sashenka is a historical novel in three parts that opens in St Petersburg just before the Russian Revolution. The second part is set in Moscow under Stalin, in 1939. The third part is set in modern times (1994) in the Caucasus, London and Moscow. It’s a pacy read and especially interesting because it’s written by a historian of Russia, Simon Sebag Montefiore. Sashenka is from a privileged Jewish family, and the book is the first of Sebag Montefiore’s Moscow Trilogy. (The other books are One Night in Winter—set in Moscow in 1945—and Red Sky at Noon, set in Russia during World War II). Of all the books he’s written, the trilogy is Simon Sebag Montefiore’s own favourite, he told us via Twitter.