One Night in Winter

Award-winning historian Montefiore's second foray into fiction (after Sashenka) revolves around the families of Joseph Stalin's elite cadre of advisers. A group of students at Stalin School 101, the alma mater of Stalin's two children, form a secret club devoted to the poetry of Alexander Pushkin. As teenagers secure in wealth and position, they reenact romantic duels from their favorite poems in fancy dress, oblivious to the suffering and fear building in the postwar Soviet Union. When one of their stunts ends in a fatal shooting, the teens end up in prison. The conspiracy soon engulfs the teens' siblings, parents, and teachers. Secrets, lies, and accusations multiply in a state where everyone is under suspicion. Basing his book on an actual murder case from 1945, Montefiore incorporates fictional families among historical figures such as Stalin and his secret police chief, Lavrentiy Beria. He does an excellent job of portraying the paralyzing tension of powerful high-ranking Soviet officials who are powerless to protect their own families and the chaos of a society where brothers denounce brothers and children denounce parents.