Book Club and Blog

Hello and welcome to my blog!

Once a month I post something on this page from behind or around my book. Some posts cover events that happened in the Soviet Union and the world in the same months as the novel but never made it onto the page or were cut from the second edition. Others cover how the book was written (for example the songs I played while working on particular chapters). There are also questions for readers/reading groups and book clubs, and occasional pieces about the characters in the book, fictional or historical.

Each post is tagged (History, Writing, Characters, Book Club) and says at the top if it gives away plot. Subscribers to my monthly newsletters get a short note a few days ahead with the topic of the month, so there is time to mull over it before the post goes up. You are welcome to comment even if you are just a visitor. Questions, disagreements and your own memories of the period are welcome. I will screen and approve first-time comments to keep out spam.

• November Theme: Jack’s Song

  Before Jack was fully formed on the page, he came to me through a song. For months I played Sting’s “Shape of My Heart” on repeat, sometimes before and while I wrote or re-wrote a page or a line. I didn’t hear a card player’s story. I heard a man who played spy games for […]