The Man from St. Petersburg

I really like Ken Follett books, but this book I found just a bit too illogical for me, several times I had to scratch my head and wonder about the characters thought processes and motivation. Way too many coincidences (of course most books have more coincidences than one would expect in a normal life) for me to forgive.

This book offers Follett's thoughtful insight on several topics, from why wars happen to the ever challenging issues of race and gender. Great story to keep readers interested and pondering life's questions.

This book offers Follett's thoughtful insight on several topics, from why wars happen to the ever challenging issues of race and gender. Great story to keep readers interested and pondering life's questions.

Ken Follett fleshes out our characters. We get to know them and even form an opinion of them. Do we like them, hate them or are we puzzled by them?This book is character driven during a very perilous time in the real world. The history of that time and the effect that it had on people, as depicted through the emotions and actions of the characters, make that history meaningful to readers.

I liked the historical content, but actually I felt as though the book had somewhat of a 'fairy tale' demeanor to it. This was especially true in the sex scenes when Lydia fell madly and uncontrollably 'in love' with the anarchist. Same thing repeated when she found out he was living in the house after Charlotte let him in. Finally, his ability to escape was a trifle too much as was his sneaking around the house before he burned it down. ;Seemed just too far fetched and lost much of its authenticity.

I found this book to be a very engaging work of historical fiction. It is interesting to note that for all that has been written about the events leading up to WWII, very little has been written about the events and treaties that dragged so many nations in to WWI.

It was well written and interesting to hear about the war from the perspective of a Russian resistance fighter. But I found him basically a terrorist and really didn't find any one of the characters sympathetic, except perhaps for the wealthy lord who we were not supposed to like.

I haven't read a Ken Follett novel in years. Evenly paced with a few turns, I envisioned what London was like in 1914. A bit more detail on St. Petersburg was missing, given the book's title. I expect to catch up on other Follett work that I missed.

This novel was not up to the caliber of many of Ken Follett's other novels. The characters were shallow, the plot was predictable, and the overall feeling I had at the end of the book was one of disappointment.

I really enjoy all of Ken Follett's books. He is a terrific writer and so prolific some of his books I have not had time to read as I am now in a totally different genre. However, I know they are great that is why I purchased them. =-)

I've read reviews that led me to believe this isn't one of the author's best books. I did not like the first part at all and thought about not finishing it. It got better about halfway through and I did finish it, but it was not what I expected from this author.

The book revolves around the dysfunctional Walden family and delves deeply into their lives. After learning about their lives it finally arrives at a climax that is very predictable. Not up to my prior Ken Follet reads. I was dissappointed, having read Winter of the Worlds and Fall of Giants.

I have only recently started reading Ken Follett and all the books so far have been fascinating with the amount of historical detail and research. The Man from St Petersburg was readable but didnt catch my interest as much as his other novels. Worth a read in any case.

Fortunately there are lots of other Ken Folletts to read. I have recommended his books to friends who have also become fans.

I have read The Century Trilogies and thoroughly enjoyed them. I read some good reviews on The Man from St. Petersburg and hence decided to read it. Eventually I just gave up, as I found the love scenes sort of Barbara Carlandish and the story just didnt hold my interest.

I like Ken Follett's writing style. It's usually historically interesting , easy to read, and keeps you turning pages. At about the 3/4 mark of this short book it really becomes preposterous and the climax is just absurd. Skip it!

I like Ken Follett's writing style. It's usually historically interesting , easy to read, and keeps you turning pages. At about the 3/4 mark of this short book it really becomes preposterous and the climax is just absurd. Skip it!

The plot of the story had the potential for intrigue, all the elements were in place,but the story was clumsy and predictable. I did like the history unfolding prior to WWI and the integrating of the future leaders of Great Britian into the converstions.

I just finished this book its still warm and will not be a keeper. Like a previous review in kens case longer is better. I kept reading though the action was good but i did feel short changed by lack of character development. Some of character development seemed forced and not real. In the end pillars fall of giants and world without end were much better.

This historical thriller revolves around the Earl of Walden and his family, who all become involved in a life and death struggle the outcome of which could have a serious influence on World War 1.

Walden receives a visit from Churchill, asking for help negotiating with Russia about alliances in the forthcoming War. Walden feels this is an exciting opportunity to further his career, whilst his Russian wife finds it brings back unwanted memories of a love she has tried to put behind her. Meanwhile their daughter is busy thinking about being presented to the King and Queen and her first Season – whilst beginning to discover that the real world is not quite as her sheltered upbringing has led her to believe.

Alongside the family activities in London and at their country estate, the suffragettes are fighting for women’s rights, a Russia anarchist has arrived to assassinate the Russian delegate Walden is negotiating with, and interesting discussions are being held on the moving of European boundaries to satisfy political needs.

I found this book disappointing. The writing style, as usual with Ken Follett, is excellent, and the story moves along at a steady pace. However I never found myself particularly interested in the main characters. Many of the historical detail from that time are fascinating ; the social norms of aristocratic women, the suffragettes and the political upheavals going on. So, its a nice easy read, with interesting background information.

What makes Ken Follett so great, in my opinion, is his ability to take a really dull subject and create a book around it that is exciting, thrilling and suspenseful. Thinking back on all of the Ken Follett books I've read: The Pillars of the Earth was about building a cathedral, World Without End was about building a bridge, A Dangerous Fortune was about banking, and The Man From St. Petersberg was about foreign policy in 1914 England.

All of those topics sound so boring when I read that list, but Follett makes them into a book that I can't stop reading! I was a little apprehensive that The Man From St. Petersberg wouldn't be as good as the previous Follett books I've read, but it was. It was a shorter book so I was able to speed through it and after the first 75 pages, I just couldn't stop!

The Man From St. Petersberg is about two star-crossed lovers and the paths their lives take after their heartbreaking forced separation. The way Follett weaves his plots together, taking events that seem unrelated and then making them all tied together at the end, is so satisfying. I also really enjoy the way he writes relationships and feelings. His poetic justice is another selling point, as well as his pacing. Can you tell that I love Ken Follett?

Just One Gripe:
This one was a little harder to get into than his other books.

The Best Thing About This Book:
The relationships and character development.

Actually, if Goodreads would let my cast my vote in half-star increments, I'd rate this book 4.5 stars, as Ken Follett subtly inserts his personal pro-socialist agenda (Follett is, by his own admission, a self-described "champagne socialist"), throughout the book, especially the Epilogue, which I don't care for as a Libertarian and free-marketeer, but what the hell, I still enjoyed the book very much.

This was my second time reading this book, the first time being way back in February 1988 at the age of 12. Needless to say, I'm able to appreciate and understand the book even more now, with the beneficial hindsight of adulthood, actual world travel experience (including London), a Bachelor's degree International Relations, partial Master's degree in Military History, and some familiarity with the Russian language.

An exciting, always entertaining, intrigue-filled, action-packed thriller set in 1914, a few months before the start of the First World War, involving a plot by the antagonist (perhaps anti-hero would be apropos) and titular character, Russian anarchist Felix Kschessinsky (trying saying that surname three times in a row real fast, heh heh) to derail a pending Anglo-Russo alliance by assassinating the Czar's envoy, Prince Aleksander ("Aleks") Orlov before he (Prince Orlov) can negotiate a treaty with his English counterpart--and family member via marriage--Lord Stephen, Earl of Walden. Feliks' motivation behind this plot is the desire to prevent Russia's entry into the pending "Great War" that many leaders on both sides of the English Channel see as imminent (the timeline of the novel includes the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914, but stops shy of the actual official August 1914 start of the war) and thus prevent the deaths of many thousands of Russian soldiers from the starving peasant classes. Through the course of the novel, Feliks must contend with not only Lord Walden, but the Czar's secret police, Scotland Yard, and none other than the younger Winston Churchill.

Adding to the intrigue are the fact that Stephen Walden's wife, the Russian-born-and-raised Lady Lydia, was a secret lover of Feliks' during their younger, wilder days....which eventually leads to the question of who is the real father to the Walden heiress, Lady Charlotte (who is just turning 18 and making the transition to young adulthood as the book begins).

Speaking of Charlotte, there is an interesting sub-plot about her joining the then-burgeoning suffragette movement....her character, along with her best friend Belinda, offer eye-opening insights as to just how sexually ignorant and unaware upper-class Western girls were in Victorian times, a mere hundred years ago.

Feliks, though a villain, is a hard man to root against, and is indeed a sympathetic figure in many ways, as his heart is in the right place, even if his head isn't entirely; who knows, IF a real-life counterpart of Feliks really had managed to prevent Russia's entry into WWI, then maybe, just maybe, the Bolshevik Revolution would have never succeeded and Russia would've never fallen under the totalitarian jackboot of communism (but then again, without Russia, Britain & France might not have been able to defeat the Kaiser). Speaking myself as a Libertarian, my Libertarian brethren are often accused of being "anarchists;" we are certainly NOT anarchists, but we certainly want to MINIMIZE government, and I find much concurrence with Feliks and his fellow anarchists on the evil and oppressive ways of government. However, I disagree and take issue with Feliks and his political (anti-political?) brethren with their across-the-board condemnation of private wealth.

Hypothetical Fantasy Casting Call (if "TMFSP" had been made into a movie in the 1980s or 1990s):
--Donald Sutherland as Feliks (hey, he already played the titular villain in the filmic adaptation of another Follett novel, "Eye of the Needle")
--Sir Anthony Hopkins as Lord Stephen, Earl of Walden (Sir Richard Burton would've been a good choice as well)
--Daniella Bianchi as Lady Lydia Walden (she was best known as KGB Corporal Tatiana Romanov, the Bond Girl in "From Russia With Love")
--Lady Charlotte Walden (IF she could pull off a decent British accent)
--Scotland Yard Special Branch Superintendent Basil Thomson: Malcolm McDowell
--Prince Aleks Orlov: Jason Priestly

Ken Follett spares not an ounce of genius in bringing his characters to life and weaving them together in electrifying narrative. His artistry is one that burdens the reader with sorting the protagonists from the antagonists, enriching each character's complexion and back story with such brio that you may just end up pulling for the whole lot to triumph as the novel winds to a close.

The Man From St. Petersburg is of course no exception, with Follett's tried and true, World War era-themed cat and mouse thriller once again taking center stage. Ever the epicure of historical fiction, Follett treats his settings with care, honoring the historical minutia and injecting them with multiple shots of hair-raising drama. The global tensions and dis-ease surrounding the two largest global engagements to date provide blueprints aplenty for building an engrossing alternate timeline. Situated in the lead-up to the First World War in 1914 London, we find Britain pushing to secure an alliance with the Russian Empire. War seems all but inevitable, and intel indicates a low chance of Allied success unless the whole of the Triple Entente is prepared to throw their martial weight against Germany.

The man chosen to represent Russia in the negotiations is the courtly admiral Prince Orlov, nephew to British aristocrat Lord Walden. Importuned by no less a figure than Winston Churchill, Walden is tasked with brokering the secret bond and saving his nation from impending defeat. A delicate assignment, no doubt, but one made all the more perilous by a shrewdly intelligent and combat-adept anarchist, whose life is interwoven with the Walden household's in variously surprising ways.

Enter Feliks Kschessinsky, who might just be the most unforgettable covert agent this side of Jason Bourne. The Russian idealist is fed up with his mother country's penchant for embroiling its citizens in wars in which they have no choice in participating and vows to sever the alliance talks with Great Britain by assassinating the admiral. Fearless yet stringently cautious, unflinchingly determined, almost too capable of evading his pesky pursuers, and ornamented with the occasional flash of charisma and sensuality, Feliks is the cloak-and-dagger character you just can't help but cheer for. (If you're a pacifist at heart, you may have all the more reason to get behind him.) His frequent bouts with Walden and the full armada of the British police force ratchet up the intensity as the walls close in around the Muscovite assassin. But Feliks finds help in the most unsuspecting of places.

Beyond the instant allure of Feliks and his skirmishes with Walden and company, Follett has also arranged equally enticing female leads who are not subordinately tossed in but who command central roles in the narrative. Walden's wife, Lydia, whose Russian past is dredged up in plot-twisting fashion, and their daughter, Charlotte, with her closeted upbringing and later affinity with the suffragette movement underway in Britain at the time, round out the exquisite cast. There isn't too much that can be shared about these two characters without giving major plot shifts away, but their presence is integral to the whole and compete with Feliks on every page for rights to the most memorable character.

Closing Thoughts

Follett's 1982 thriller has a lot to offer, from the international intrigue of anarchist subversionism hurled against the British secret police, an endearing and dynamic cast, Ludlum-esque chase scenes, sensual but not at all gratuitous sex, to the masterful pacing and pitch-perfect dialogue, all encased in a historical backdrop that will lend the reader an osmotic familiarity with prewar London. Sure, a few of the plot turns are a bit too sharp and escape sequences faintly implausible, but the gripping prose and fluorescent cast are more than adequate to keep you anchored firmly to your seat.

It may not be as polished around the edges as Eye of the Needle, or as seductive as his massively medieval opus, Pillars of the Earth, but Follett's The Man From St. Petersburg is surely just as absorbing, insisting you delay that next meal just a little while longer so you can see how the current scene plays out. This is smooth escapism, enclothed in classic Follett garb.

The only question that remains: which character will you root for the most?

This is one of my favorite Follett novels. I love the British pre-World-War-I setting, and I like the plot, which involves a Russian anarchist (Feliks) who wants to assassinate a Russian Prince who is visiting London. The plot is more complex than I've indicated, involving Lydia, who is married to Lord Walden, and their eighteen-year-old daughter, Charlotte. The complexity of the plot adds to the interest. The pacing of the plot is excellent, though there is a bit too much interruption of the main plot with backstory events.

Several other reviewers of this book have complained that one must suspend disbelief over some major things in order to enjoy the story. For example, the reader must accept that aristocratic eighteen-year-old Victorian women knew absolutely nothing about sex, pregnancy, or birth. I don't find it difficult to accept this because I see around me, every day, eighteen-year-olds who may know everything about sex, pregnancy, and birth, but don't know other things that seem very common-knowledge to me, such as that Canada is a nation in North America. So I can accept the world that Follett has created and go along with the fast-paced story. I did feel, though, that the ending rushed along with more of an eye to drama than to probability, and this weakened my enjoyment of the book.

On another note, if you want to read Follett's first plot outline of The Man from St. Petersburg and compare it to his second plot outline, to see how he increased the stakes and tension in the novel, read Albert Zuckerman's book, Writing the Blockbuster Novel.

A love story spans the chasm between the past and the future. Where will it lead?

Based around events leading up to the First World War, this gripping tale leads you from poverty-stricken St. Petersburg to the elitist regions of the British Isles for an unexpected and frightening reunion between old lovers. Will the flame of passion be rekindled or has time erased the memories?

A broken family is caught between the desperation of zealous revolutionaries from a dark homeland and the powerful and wealthy british families clinging to stalwart traditions of the past. Where will their secrets, desires and hopes take them? Will they even survive?

"The Man From St. Petersburg" is once again a great historical thriller from Ken Follet. Probably what's most amazing about it, is that this is the 8th book I've read read from Follet, so I know his style and formula pretty well, and yet he still shocked me and entertained me as if this was my first.
For most of the book, I was thinking of rating four stars, simply because I have read many Follet novels, so the book suffered only because the style and details weren't brand new to me. Four stars still means it's a very good book, but after just reading the last fifty or so pages, this book has to be rated five. What an excellent ending!
It always amazes me how well Follet blends fiction and history, as well as writing numerous storylines which all connect to one another. This book deals alot with London before World War 1, but also explores the anarchists of Russia as well.
This is evertything you would expect from Ken Follet: great characters, including a great villian, excellent suspense, wonderful historic details, and a story that demands to be read every minute possible.
If you're already a Follet fan, this book is a must read. If you want a great thriller set in London in the early 20th century, then this book is perfect.
Once again, I'm very happy to be a fan of Ken Follet. Great book.

Ken Follett is a master espionage writer and The Man From St. Petersburg is no exception. This book has a unique premise and immediately grabbed my attention. The characters were wonderfully dark and refused to reveal their true intentions. There were several wonderful plot turns and unexpected main character decisions. Ken kept me fully entertained until the last page. A really great espionage read.

Bravo.

Have you ever found yourself rooting for an assassin? Well, fasten your seatbelts.

Follett has created a wonderful character in Feliks. He's a lover of Alexander Pushkin's literature, lover of culture, art and history - as well as a fabulous lover in bed - he bleeds passion for his love and for his cause. But Feliks is also a hardened criminal. Often misunderstood. Shipped to Siberia and tortured all because he fell in love with a girl of a higher social status.

Follett sets this tumultuous novel as Europe is on the brink of WWI - The summer of 1914. Germany had already been preparing for war, both to the east and to the west. Defeat or victory appears to lie within the hands of the Russians. The Russians sends the Czar's nephew, Prince Orlov, to England to investigate and negotiate a treaty in secrecy.

But a group of anarchist, with spies in the Russian Secret Police, finds out about Prince Orlov's secret meeting. The anarchists feel the Czar is trying to drag innocent Russian peasants into fighting a war they neither care about, nor believe in.

So to prevent disaster, the anarchists send the infamous Feliks Kschessinsky to assassinate Prince Orlov. But when Feliks arrives to England, he finds secrets from his past that threaten to get in the way of his mission.

As the lies, deceit, betrayal, adultery, abound, you will be given a front-row seat to the decisions that unleashed WW1 and a look into the lives of the people who called the shots.

There were other characters there weren't as fleshed out, namely, Prince Orlov, the man who Feliks is trying to assassinate. If I knew more about Orlov, his fate would have mattered to me more - but since I know nothing about him, except that he's the Czar's nephew, I could care less about what happens to him. That was the only minor flaw I found with the book.

So while the novel was MASTERFULLY plotted and wonderfully paced, the writing did become a bit dense and dry at times. But that's just nitpicking.

Feliks Kschessinsky is a Great Romantic Russian Hero that you may remember long after reading The Man from St. Petersburg.

Follette's best characters in the "political intrigue" stage of his writing career are to be found in this lightning-paced novel. Set in England in the year before the outbreak of the First World War, this story concerns an anarchist named Felix, and his efforts to assassinate a Russian Prince, who is visiting England to cement a treaty of mutual protection in the event of hostilities with Germany. The anarchist, a Russian who has endured much injustice in his life (so much, in fact, he has somehow lost the capacity to feel fear in his plummet from idealistic pacifist to hardened killer) is no purposeless psychopath. Though he has come to regard himself as "lost" Felix holds out hope that if the chains of tyranny can be lifted from the peoples of Europe, then peace and goodness might rise. He sees no need for governments or for law. He feels humans can best direct themselves and authority is by definition corrupt. It is to the end of disrupting the treaty between the two powers, England and Russia, that Felix travels to London in 1914, intent on stopping the alliance and making war that much less attractive to the great powers. Opposing Felix is an English Earl named Walden, who, unknown to both men, has a unlikely mutual connection with Felix from the past-the Earl's wife. This novel moves at a brisk pace and flashes through the underworld of post-Edwardian London, as well as its halls of government. Winston Churchill is a minor figure in this book, although most others, including the memorable eighteen-year-old Charlotte Walden, at the time of the novel, supposedly a ninety-two-year-old friend of Follette's, are fictional constructs. I found this novel skillfully rendered and immensely enjoyable. It is possibly the best of the novels Ken Follette composed before his turned out his 1989 masterpiece: The Pillars of the Earth.

This is my favorite of Ken Follett's work...

Like many of his earlier novels (Triplet, The Key to Rebecca, etc) it is fast paced and engaging. These are the precursors to the "techno-thrillers" of the late 1980s. But this is deeper....

This novel addresses the themes of WW1 and how it came about. It lightly touches on the contradictions of 'the establishment' versus the 'peoples movements' of the early 1900s and how the war came to be one of class struggle instead of one government vs another. As Feliks would have said, it was 'war killing people' instead of 'people killing people'...

Follett does a TERRIFIC job of showing one man's twisted understanding of war, politics, and the evolution of those times - but written for our world and understanding. Feliks, the protagonist Main Character, is not a communist but rather an anarchist revolutionary who represents the life as it "could have been" vs how it became. He sort of shows how life and politics could have changed our world had not it become a struggle between the capitalist West vs the communist East...duno if that makes sense, but its what I see in it....

Even if you don't like politics, you can like this book as a spy or adventure novel...and still get something out of it as a historical novel....

I highly recommend this book....

Ken follet is a genius..it can't be said too many times!!
Set early in the nineteenth century at the brink of the world war, a middle aged man sets out on a mission to England. His mission is to kill a visiting Russian Prince, his goal is to prevent Russia losing millions in the world war. His name is Feliks and he is the man from St. Petersburgh. He has killed many in his lifetime and he has suffered a great deal and he therefore knows himself never to be afraid. But he has also loved once, wildly and truthfully but she was forced to marry someone else.
The assassination of the Russian Prince Orlov will help Russians because this would alienate the Czar from alliance with the British and French to fight against the Germans. The British on the other hand, including the young Winston Churchill and a powerful lord, the Earl of Walden once realising the danger do everything to protect Orlov because a Russian alienation would be fatal.
Feliks fails to act the first opportunity he creates for himself because he is overpowered by a memory of 18 years before as he realises the Lady Walden is his Lydia.
In England, it is the social season of coming out of debutantes and the Earl of Walden's daughter Charlotte is due to come out. At eighteen, she discovers the facts of life and aspects of the real world (like the poverty that exists around them, and the work of suffragettes fighting the injustice done to women) and she is angry that her parents kept it from her. Although she is eighteen, she feels her parents don't treat her in that way. She realises women were meant to be stupid and ignorant and she hates that.
No wonder she takes warmly to Fe liks, the stranger who saves her from a suffrage demonstration turned ugly. She feels unusually comfortable with him and appreciates him for talking sensibly as an adult to her. By this time Feliks realises that Charlotte is in fact his daughter because she was born seven months after Lydia was married. He desperately loves the jewel he never knew he had and suddenly he is afraid to die.
Ken Follet has a distinct ability to give his villains a true and full character that we feel sad when they die. We see the justification of their actions and we warm to them. His style is simple with the correct amount of descriptions and he is able to portray all characters (although they are different in their race, creed and class) as similar because of their needs and wants and the common feelings of love , hurt , anguish and anger.
Ken Follet successfully tells a tale and he gives a full story and an ending that satisfies us. There is quite a lot of suspense in this book, and unlike Pillars of The Earth and The Third Twin where "happy endings" were inevitable towards the end, the fine line between good and bad in this book (one would have a personal opinion on whether Feliks or Walden is the bad guy ) blurs the ability to say whether the ending is happy or not.
I feel the ending is suitable to the story as the characters themselves are able to be satisfied. Feliks got more than what he expected, Charlotte lived on and learned to believe and live by much the same ideals as her father and did not live as a debutante should, Lydia could live without the truth haunting her and Walden still had his wife and daughter.
The only sad part is the war did happen (we know it) and not only Russians but many died. Perhaps this style that Follet adopts here (fully dissecting both good and bad) can teach us a lesson. All man has some good in him. We need only look for it. Then perhaps with a little understanding and giving there could be peace...

I bought this book when it was first published oh so many years ago. It's one of Follett's best and I must have re-read it 20 times. It's that good.

This isn't one of those exciting page turning books that keep you up til 2am. To use the words of one of the reviwers below, it's a character driven book. And the characters are fully fleshed, right from the first time you meet them. That's why you can re-read these books. With most thrillers, you can only read them once because once you know how it ends the excitement is gone. But with books like this (which it seems authors don't know how to write any more) you can keep reading them again and again because the characters are old friends that you revisit each time you re-read the book.

I must admit the plot is a little simplistic compared to best sellers of today, but it doesn't really detract from the enjoyment of this book. If you are a true book lover who loves character driven drama you must buy this book.

This is one of Follett's early books and he hasn't written like this ever again.

Follett certainly has a gift for capturing the essence of the times. His depiction of both the surroundings and of the people is a delightful talent.

The protagonist is given away by the title. Although he is quite wicked, you find yourself feeling for him, even wanting to like him. This hardened anarchist travels to England from Russia bent on killing a prince from his homeland. While in England, the prince lodges with an aristocratic family where negotiations are held concerning terms of territory of an anticipation of the looming First World War. Within this family there contains a twist, but you will need to read it.

The characters are each with their own unique, debilitating faults. They are all sadly, very flawed.

I recently read The Man from St. Petersburg, Ken Follett's fourth novel, which came out in1982. While I would not rank it among his best, it is nevertheless a solid outing that contains all the usual elements that makes Follett an author you can count on to keep you turning those pages. There is the clean, clear writing style; the well-drawn, vivid characters; liberal helpings of action, violence and sex; and a mounting sense of tension that builds throughout and leads to an exciting climax. There is, as usual, a strong woman character (arguably two strong women characters, depending upon your point of view) who is central to driving the story forward. As is typical with Follett, the book takes place during an interesting historical period. This time it is the days leading up to World War One, a choice that adds nicely to the story's tension. And while this is a work of fiction, there is an intriguing use of a young Winston Churchill as a relatively minor but important character.
But what singles out this novel from others of Follett and the genre in general is the internal struggle it creates in the mind of the reader. The central conflict of the story revolves around a plot by a Russian anarchist to assassinate a Russian diplomat, Prince Orlov, who is on a trip to England to negotiate an alliance between his own country and England against the mounting threat from Germany. The anarchist, Felix, is motivated by his desire to keep Russia out of the war and save the lives of the working class Russian soldiers who would be lost should Russia align itself with England. While he is ostensibly the story's villain, he seems more misguided than evil. And the character engenders sympathy from the genuine feelings of love he exhibits for the wife and daughter of the story's chief protagonist, Lord Walden. Walden is charged by Churchill with winning the alliance with Russia. So for both political and personal reasons (Orlov is his wife's nephew) he is pitted against Felix and must strive to keep Orlov alive.
As the plot's central tension mounts so too does the emotional entanglement of its characters. The result is a growing realization by the reader that when all of the forces of the story finally collide, it cannot result in a happy ending. It is this dynamic which distinguishes the book and which is perhaps its most affecting aspect.

secretagentfanforum.blogspot.com

Like all of Follet's novels, `The Man from St. Petersburg' is a page turner and worth picking up if you like a good historical adventure. That being said, however, this novel is not that great when compared to `Eye of The Needle', `The Key to Rebecca' and his masterpiece `The Pillars of The Earth.' Follet is a good and sometimes great writer. The problem I find with his writing is that sometimes he edits down to 300 pages what would be a great-classic epic of 1500 pages (i.e., like `Pillars of the Earth'). Sometimes the shorter form works (i.e., `Eye Of The Needle' and `Key to Rebecca' where the action is close to real time), but sometimes he shortchanges himself and the reader (i.e., `Man From St. Petersburg' and `Place called Freedom') by limiting his scope and range to be under a certain number of pages. I don't know if this is a publishing thing or what?
If given more room for characters and historical detail, Follet gives us classic epic novels like `Pillars'. When he limits himself he sometimes succeeds and sometimes misses.
More longer Follet novels are better.

The Man from St. Petersburg is definitely one of Follet's best books. I've read several, but not all, and this novel sticks out because of its strong characterization and tragic turns of events. On Follett's website, he calls this an "Edwardian" novel. I don't know what that means, but this book has a different feel to it.

The "man" from St. Petersburg is Felix, a Russian anarchist conspiring to kill Prince Olav and prevent Russia from entering WWI on the side of the English. Felix comes to England and makes his plans and is ready to kill Olav as he rides in a stagecoach, when he sees a woman who is his long lost lover.

That woman is Lidia, Olav's aunt. It seems too convenient that Lydia would reappear in Felix's life now, but that conflict is the basis for the entire novel. Felix is still in love with Lydia, and Lydia with Felix. But Lydia is now married to the Earl of Walden, Stephen and has a daughter named Charlotte. Stephen is negotiating a treaty with Olav to get Russia's help in WWI, and Lydia is torn between her love for her old flame and her current husband.

Several things stick out in the novel. First, Follett spends a lot of time on Felix, covering his life and his background. Felix is a despicable character and I kept hoping he would fail. Yet his actions drive the entire story.

Lydia was probably the most disappointing character. She loves Steven yet is willing to risk his life for the love of Felix who she last saw 19 years ago. She was a freak in her obsession for Felix. She is so weak-willed and it is frustrating because she had so many chances to do what was right.

Charlotte, their daughter, was raised in ignorance about everything. So when she turns 18 and begins to learn about sex and war and women's suffering, she starts to rebel against her parents because they kept so many things from her. Charlotte is not a bad person, but continually makes bad choices because of the way society thought she should be raised.

The rules of English society in 1914 meant no one could really say how the felt, and that caused many problems.

Lydia loved her husband Steven and Charlotte loved her father, yet they made so many choices that could harm him all because of lack of communication or out of fondness for Felix.

The end ties things up nicely, although a few things happen that I would deem "unforgiveable", but since they are kept a secret, it doesn't really matter.

This Follett book had less sex that some of his others but retains the strong characterization that make him such a great author. Follett excels in writing period pieces that bring out the little details of what life was like in an earlier period.

I listened to this book on audio tape and highly recommend it.

The best part about this book is that halfway through the story, I couldn't figure out what ending to hope for. Follett does an excellent job of creating sympathy for each character, even the evil ones, a characteristic found in some of his other novels as well. All of them are in very precarious situations and each possible outcome spells disaster for some other character in the book. On the one hand, I wanted the assassin to carry out the murder for his own sake and for the prevention of WWI(even though it did happen), but I also wanted the Russian prince to survive because he is a good character and it would be disastrous for the entire Walden family. Rarely does an author present such a conflict, most resort to the hope of a happy ending which the reader knows is inevitable but this one is definitely unique. There is no true happy ending.

This is an all-around solid book. You really do feel for the characters and their dilemmas. The story never drags, each chapter has some kind of contribution to the overall quality and the high stakes involved ensure the reader's attention for the duration of the book. Worth the $8.