title: The Jewel of St. Petersburg (A Russian Concubine Novel)
author:  Kate Furnivall 
description: In this prequel to her debut novel, The Russian Concubine (2007), about White Russian Lydia Ivanova, Furnivall focuses on Lydias mother, Valentina, during the years leading up to and including the Russian Revolution of 1917. When Bolsheviks bomb her familys country estate in 1910, crippling her younger sister, Katya, 17-year-old title character Valentina is left with guilt and resolve. With a slim frame but steely character, she defies both convention and her father, who is the czars minister of finance, first by training and working as a nurse and then by refusing to marry for money (in order to solve the familys financial problems). Instead, she chooses the man she loves passionately, Dane Jens Friis, the czars engineer. Through the years, her hatred grows for Viktor Arkin, a Bolshevik leader once in the Ivanovas employ who develops an emotionally complicated relationship with the family. Furnivall portrays a country in dreadful conflict, with the grinding poverty of the masses fueling rebellion against the privileged classes. A must for readers of The Russian Concubine and Furnivalls The Red Scarf (2008). --Michele Leber
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  ##### From Back Cover…
  
  
  
  
  
  A woman unlike any other
  
  
  
  
  
  The Countess Lisaveta Lazaroff seemed to fear nothing—not war, not marauding
  bandits, certainly not the scandalized whispers of polite society. And from
  the first, Prince Stefan Bariatinsky was fascinated by her beguiling mixture
  of innocence and sophistication. The splendid young officer was sought after
  by most of the ladies of the czar's court, but they held no interest for him
  now. From the battlefields of Asia to the ballrooms of Saint Petersburg, the
  prince could find no peace, for he was haunted by the memory of one silken
  night in Lisaveta's arms….
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##### About the Author…
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  SUSAN JOHNSON
  
  
  
  
  
  is a well-known writer of historical romances who has now, with _Golden
  Paradise_ , returned to the setting that originally made her famous—the Russia
  of the Czars. She is an avid collector of books of all kinds, commenting,
  "they threaten to overrun the house." The nineteenth-century Russian wr