ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to acknowledge the assistance of the following people:

For help with my research, my sincerest thanks to Dr Andrew Gentes, Dr Sonia Puttock, Professor Elizabeth Warner, Samantha Tinker, Tanya Martin, Andrei Nekrosov, Vladislav Nekliaev, A. J. Rochester, Caroline Yates, Carmen Roberts, Meg Heaslop and Kate Cuthbert. I claim all mistakes and bent truths as wholly my own.

For writing support, I’d like to acknowledge Paul Brandon, Mary-Rose MacColl, Verity Morgan, Sean Williams, Rebecca Sparrow, Louise Cusack and, of course, Selwa Anthony. I’d like to pay a particular debt of gratitude to Kate Morton, for going on this journey so closely with me: what a fine travelling companion you are, BF. The practical help offered by Mirko Ruckels, Elaine Wilkins, Nicole Ruckels and Ian Wilkins gave me the time and the space to write. Folk at HarperCollins who are never acknowledged fully enough for their positivity and goodwill are Stephanie Smith, Linda Funnell, Airlie Lawson, Alison Urquhart and Karen-Maree Griffiths (kisses to you, KMG).

A special thanks and hello to the staff of the Fryer Library, University of Queensland. Thank you for letting me work with the lights off.

Thank you also to Faye Booth, for her tireless work on my online community.

So much of the research on this project was done with the help of those who are impossible to talk to, but whose versions of Russia are the most vivid and evocative. So a special acknowledgement, presumptuous though it may be, to Tyutchev, Blok, Pushkin, Lermontov, Akhmatova, Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, and mad, mad Prokofiev (where would this book have been without his sleigh ride?).

And for Luka Nikolai, a special thank you and the dedication of this book. You inspire me simply by smiling, and you have enriched my world beyond measure.