From Siberia, with love : a story of exile, revolution and cigarettes / Geoffrey Elliott.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Elliott, Geoffrey, 1939-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Revolutionaries--Russia--Biography.

Revolutionaries.

Political refugees.

Russia.

England--London.

Political refugees--Russia--Biography.

Political refugees--England--London--Biography.

Russia--History--1801-1917.

History.

Soviet Union--History--1917-1936.

Soviet Union.

London (England)--Social life and customs.

London (England).

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xix, 300 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Methuen, 2004.

Summary:

In pre-revolutionary Russia, Geoffrey Elliott's grandfather, David Redstone, an anti-tsarist rebel with a cause, was thrown into prison and then exiled to the savage cold of Siberia, for his ties to the underground. A contemporary of Trotsky, David refuses to give up, and becomes embroiled in a political protest, barricaded with more than fifty other exiles inside a little wooden house. After a freezing and frightening two-week siege, the Cossacks close in, three men die in a hail of bullets, and David must endure the harsh conditions of jail a second time. Yet amid the gloom, stench and deprivation of his prison cell, he meets nurse Manya, the love of his life and after David is finally released, he flees with Manya to London. Two fog-bound years later, a homesick about-turn takes them back to Siberia, but in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, they are forced to flee once more through Asia and Europe to the alien safety of London.

From Siberia, with Love is an epic and uplifting love story set in a period of intense political upheaval, packed with fascinating portraits of the turmoil of the Revolution, the bloody civil war between Reds, Whites and bandits which followed, and the ordinary people living under those regimes. The family business, which grew from a Soho attic workshop into the House of Sobranie, whose exotic cigarettes and aromatic pipe tobaccos became synonymous with sophistication, forms the second backdrop to the Redstones' remarkable odyssey.

Told with great affection, Geoffrey Elliott's compelling history of his extraordinary family deals with desperate times, danger, even death. More than that, though, it is a warm and very human tale of belief, love, and hope for change.

Contents:

1 'Love Laughs at Locksmiths' 1

2 A Shelf of Clues 7

3 Russian Roulette 13

4 The Warm South 22

5 Furs, Frost and Happy Families 35

6 Rebel with a Cause 51

7 Out of Sight, Out of Mind 64

8 The Great North Road 73

9 The Land of 'Endless Snow' 81

10 The Governor Gets a Grip 86

11 A Small Siege in Siberia 94

12 Blood on the Snow 105

13 Defiance from the Dock 113

14 Digging for Victory 125

15 More of the Puzzle 144

16 The House that Albert Built 152

17 Foggy Days in London Town 163

18 Back to the Future 174

19 Maelstrom 187

20 On the Road Again 200

21 Slow Boat from China 213

22 Nice Little Business 224

23 Gulag and Gasmasks 238

24 'Whom the Gods Wish to Destroy...' 251

25 Death Comes Back 258

26 Cigarette Ends 266.

ISBN:

0413774597

OCLC:

56657253