WOLVES OF LENINSKY PROSPEKT

A magical yet oppressive Moscow is evoked with a young heroine who is foolish, inquisitive and achingly lonely. 'I hear the howling at night. It wakes me sometimes.' Escaping failure as an undergraduate and a daughter, not to mention bleak 1970s England, Martha marries Kit - who is gay. Having a wife could keep him safe in Moscow in his diplomatic post. As Martha tries to understand her new life and makes the wrong friends, she walks straight into an underground world of counter-espionage. Out of her depth, Martha no longer knows who can be trusted. A terrific novel of love and loyalty showing how a place can get inside you and challenge everything you thought you knew about yourself. 294pp.