The Man from St. Petersburg by Ken Follett A book review by Endre Barath, Jr. a Beverly Hills Realtor.

The Man from St. Petersburg by Ken Follett:  A book review by Endre Barath, Jr. a Beverly Hills Realtor.

The Man from St Petersburg

Published in 1982 and collecting dust on my bookshelf since 2005, although I am repeating myself all I have to say is “I’m so glad I finally read it”. In all fairness, I should have read it much sooner, but that is another story.

another great Ken Follett book

Don’t let the title fool you, this is not a story that revolves around St. Petersburg, Florida. Rather, it’s a story whose beginning is 1914, just at the cusp of the beginning of World War I. Hence if you favor historical fiction and were wondering about the how’s and whys before the start of what is dubbed The Great War, let Ken Follett tell you in this book. The novel is filled with political and personal drama along with espionage and intrigue. As with all of Ken Follett’s books, you will be kept on the edge of your seat and unable to turn the pages fast enough. I felt as if I was in the room when Winston Churchill was interacting with the Earl of Walden as they waited for the Romanov envoy in an attempt to seal the deal of a secret alliance between England and Russia. The issue focused on strategic real estate acquisition, which I found ironic and uncannily parallel to today’s Ukraine Russia negotiations.

Simply put, I was so mesmerized with the plot and the events that I will be googling to learn how much of the plot and characters are indeed the true history vs. fiction. Of course I am not referring to the character of Winston Churchill, rather to Feliks, Prince Aleksei, Lord Waldren and Charlotte to name but a few. At this point, I remain convinced that this novel is how it really played out.

Endre Barath. Beverly Hills Realtor