Reviews

The Butterfly and the Wheel by Neil Randall

rowena_wiseman's review

5.0

This is one of the most accomplished novels I've read all year. This book is for anyone interested in Russian history and for lovers of the great Russian writers. Turgenovsky steals a manuscript and passes it off as his own and finds himself at the centre of Soviet politics. He has no real convictions, except that he wants to be a well known writer. He slithers through the novel, brushing shoulders with people like Lenin and Gorky and Gagarin, he's trusted by Stalin, loved by the nation, and yet he's a chameleon, ready to stab anyone in the back who might pose a threat to his narcissistic goals. The reader watches with awe as he sacrifices friends, lovers, family, enemies and other writers all in the name of literary ambition. It becomes a page turner as we wait for Turgenovsky's day of reckoning, which, in the end, is far different to what I anticipated ...