Book Synopsis:
St Petersburg, 1825. Imperial Russia still basks in the glory of victory over Napoleon, but in the army and elsewhere resentment is growing against serfdom and autocracy. Vasily, a pleasure loving, privileged young man, returns home from abroad expecting to embark on a glittering career. Having become entangled in an impossible love affair, he joins a conspiracy to overthrow the government. Threatened by exile to Siberia or death, he is forced to flee the Tsar’s vengeance. Vasily hopes to rebuild his life in a distant provincial town. But he cannot forget his lost love, and now finds himself pursued by a rival who aims to destroy him. Can he escape the past, mend his broken relationships and find a better way to change the world?
My Review:
Small Acts Of Kindness is a fascinating journey into a period of Russian history I didn’t know much about.
Firstly I always love learning new things so I found it very interesting to learn more about the Russian Revolution, particularly the earlier one in 1825 which I didn’t know had happened before reading this book. It was very emotional learning more about the treatment of the Serfs and how they were reduced to being slaves, denied an education or any hope of independent living.
Vasily was a very interesting character and I enjoyed following his journey through the book from a naive young man to a more mature individual. I thought he was incredibly courageous trying to fight for what he believed in despite all the dangers involved in going against the government. His relationship with Irena was lovely to read about and brought some softer moments to the book. I wish there had been a bit more about their romance in the book though maybe that would have made it into a completely different story.
Overall I enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to historical fiction fans. The author is clearly very knowledgeable about Russian history and I loved all the details about the Russian culture at that time. The pace of the book is a bit slow at times but I feel this was made up for by all the wonderful descriptions of Russia.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Jennifer Antill studied Russian Language, Literature and Politics, at UCL SSEES, and has travelled widely in the country, often living with Russian families. She gives talks on Russian cultural topics to a wide variety of organisations. In a former life she worked in the City of London as an Investment Analyst and for eleven years served as a local councillor. Jennifer is married to Nick, has two sons and lives in Suffolk.
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