The Man From St. Petersburg

This story is set London in early 1914 as Germany was mobilizing and war was inevitable to those that history would prove astute. France was in peril even if England assisted, and the British Empire itself would be at risk if the Germans prevailed. So, The First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Winston Churchill of the Liberal government, armed with a note from King George, convinces the (conservative) Earl of Walden to negotiate a secret treaty with his wife's nephew, Alex Orlov, also nephew to the Czar, for Russia to enter into the fray.

St. Petersburg (Bloom's Literary Places)

Often called the "Venice of the North," St. Petersburg has remained the crown jewel of the Russian artistic scene. Writers covered include Fyodor Dostoevsky, Nikolai Gogol, and Aleksandr Pushkin.

Eyewitness Travel Guides once again lives up to its motto: "The guides that show you what others only tell you." While other guides are long on talk about St. Petersburg, this guide adds hundreds of photos, detailed illustrations, diagrams, maps, and time-lines to bring the city and its surrounding areas to life. Paging through it is like vacationing in St. Petersburg without the cost of going there. Fortunately, the book also includes what you need to know and how to manage when you are there.