Awards

• Short-listed for BOOKMARK Book of the Year 2020 2020
• Short-listed for BOOKMARK Book of the Year 2020 2020 (UK)

Overview

Lead Fiction, Spring 2019: This thriller brilliantly evokes 1973 Moscow and a world of diplomacy and counter-espionage. Escaping failure as an undergraduate and a daughter, not to mention bleak 1970s England, Martha marries Kit – who is gay. Having a wife could keep him safe in Moscow in his diplomatic post. As Martha tries to understand her new life and makes the wrong friends, she walks straight into an underground world of counter-espionage. Out of her depth, Martha no longer knows who can be trusted.

Full Product Details

9781912240463

Table of Contents

Reviews

`Sarah Armstrong has delivered a mesmerising, evocative novel in which characterisation and narrative tension are in perfect balance.' -Barry Forshaw; `Armstrong evokes a Moscow that is magical and oppressive... A novel with a powerful sense of place, that summons up a world from our not so distant past.'-Heather Richardson; `A terrific novel of loyalties and love, showing with humour and warmth how a place can get inside you and challenge everything you thought you knew about yourself, and your home.'-Katherine Stansfield; `I was as captivated by the story as Martha was with Moscow, waiting for the snow that never quite arrived. A smart, acerbic, thought provoking read.'-Elizabeth Haynes

`Sarah Armstrong has delivered a mesmerising, evocative novel in which characterisation and narrative tension are in perfect balance.' -Barry Forshaw

'I was as captivated by the story as Martha was with Moscow, waiting for the snow that never quite arrived. A smart, acerbic, thought provoking read.' * Elizabeth Haynes * 'A terrific novel of loyalties and love, showing with humour and warmth how a place can get inside you and challenge everything you thought you knew about yourself, and your home.' * Katherine Stansfield * 'Armstrong evokes a Moscow that is magical and oppressive... A novel with a powerful sense of place, that summons up a world from our not so distant past.' * Heather Richardson * 'Sarah Armstrong has delivered a mesmerising, evocative novel in which characterisation and narrative tension are in perfect balance.' * Barry Forshaw * 'Armstrong writes in a fast flowing style which is easy to read and holds reader attention from beginning to end.' * The Wee Review * 'The Wolves of Leninsky Prospekt evokes the feel of communist Russia, it's greatness and greyness... An intriguing and thought provoking read.' * NB Magazine * As haunting as it is humorous, if you're looking for an exciting read to kick off 2019 then this is undoubtedly it. * CommonSpace * This thriller brilliantly evokes 1973 Moscow and a world of diplomacy and counter-espionage. * Shots Magazine blog * A beautifully detailed corrective to the kiss-kiss bang-bang of far too many spy novels. * The Irish Times * A highly effective, and often disquieting, study of human beings being alienated and remoulded by a climate of constant surveillance, threats and manipulation. * The Herald * 'A fascinating account of life in Soviet Russia... There are few traces of the conventional spy-fic plot, but it's the tiny details seen from the young heroine's point of view that impress.' * The Sunday Times Crime Club * 'A solid, well-crafted plot and paced just right to build the unease in the reader.' * HalfManHalfBook blog * 'This is definitely a book I'll recommend, and I'll be looking forward to reading more from Sarah Armstrong too.' * It's All About the Books blog * 'The atmosphere feels very real... a nostalgic hark back to a very different age. I thoroughly enjoyed it.' * Tripfiction * 'I loved this novel's sense of place and the way it captures the Kafkaesque absurdities of Soviet life at the time... It also very deftly shows, like le Carre's novels, that the lines between 'them' and 'us' are often very blurred.' * Mrs Peabody Investigates (AKA Kat Hall) *

`A fascinating account of life in Soviet Russia... There are few traces of the conventional spy-fic plot, but it's the tiny details seen from the young heroine's point of view that impress.' The Sunday Times Crime Club; `Sarah Armstrong has delivered a mesmerising, evocative novel in which characterisation and narrative tension are in perfect balance.' -Barry Forshaw; `A highly effective, and often disquieting, study of human beings being alienated and remoulded by a climate of constant surveillance, threats and manipulation.' -The Herald; `A beautifully detailed corrective to the kiss-kiss bang-bang of far too many spy novels.' -The Irish Times; `This thriller brilliantly evokes 1973 Moscow and a world of diplomacy and counter-espionage.' -Shots Magazine blog; `Armstrong evokes a Moscow that is magical and oppressive... A novel with a powerful sense of place, that summons up a world from our not so distant past.' -Heather Richardson; `A terrific novel of loyalties and love, showing with humour and warmth how a place can get inside you and challenge everything you thought you knew about yourself, and your home.' -Katherine Stansfield; `I was as captivated by the story as Martha was with Moscow, waiting for the snow that never quite arrived. A smart, acerbic, thought provoking read.' -Elizabeth Haynes; `As haunting as it is humorous, if you're looking for an exciting read to kick off 2019 then this is undoubtedly it.' -CommonSpace; `The Wolves of Leninsky Prospekt evokes the feel of communist Russia, it's greatness and greyness... An intriguing and thought provoking read.' -NB Magazine; `Armstrong writes in a fast flowing style which is easy to read and holds reader attention from beginning to end.' -The Wee Review; `This is definitely a book I'll recommend, and I'll be looking forward to reading more from Sarah Armstrong too.'-It's All About the Books blog; `A solid, well-crafted plot and paced just right to build the unease in the reader.'-HalfManHalfBook blog

Author Information

Sarah Armstrong is the author of four novels, most recently The Wolves of Leninsky Prospekt and The Starlings of Bucharest. She is also the author of A Summer of Spying, a short non fiction work about her experience of jury service during the Covid-19 pandemic, authority, truth, and the surveillance we are all exposed to. She teaches undergraduate and postgraduate creative writing with the Open University. Sarah lives in Colchester with her husband and four children.

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