Devil's Acre

Devil's Acre is a novel about love, Russia and forbidden architecture. Vadim, a young Russian Jew struggles with his passion for Rachel, an American student, and with his dangerous search for the truth about Russia's cultural past. Moscow, 1982. The oppressive Soviet regime is solidly in place; Leonid Brezhnev is praised to the skies for the brilliance of his unreadable memoirs; and the KGB is keeping a watchful eye on the weary and demoralised masses. Vadim wants to find out about the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour - one of Moscow's great landmarks until it was dynamited by Stalin to make way for the world's tallest skyscraper. That skyscraper was never built, and the lost cathedral became a taboo subject, a non-building like Trotsky was a non-person. In his quest to find out about the church, Vadim is risking everything - his career, his liberty, his chance of happiness with Rachel - but he keeps on... About the author Jonathan Bastable is an English writer, historian and travel journalist. He lived in the USSR for several years - first as a student, then as a reporter for The Sunday Times, The Scotsman, and other newspapers. He regularly goes to the former Soviet Union to write articles for magazines such as Condé Nast Traveller. Bastable is the author of numerous non-fiction books, including a narrative account of the Battle of Stalingrad. His historical works and journalistic pieces have been translated into various languages and published around the world. Devil's Acre is his first novel. A second, set in Moscow and entitled Truth Street, is presently under way.