I’m so appreciative of everyone’s positive responses and interest in my novel! Thank you!

Last week, when I posted my blog on November 11, it made me think about the 100th  anniversary of some of the key battles of WW1 and of the Russian Revolution – two significant events that figured highly in Hélène Aubry’s life.

When the war started in 1914, Hélène had been living in Saint-Pétersbourg (now re-named Petrograd) for 5 years. As soon as Germany began hostilities against France, the Triple Entente brought Russia and the United Kingdom into the conflict. Everyone thought this was going to be a quick affair, but the war dragged on, and by 1917, as many as 2.5 million Russian soldiers had died on the front, and 5 million had been wounded. To contribute to the war effort, Hélène, like Tsarina Alexandra and 25,000 Russian women, trained to be a nurse; they were called the sisters of mercy of the Red Cross. 1917 proved to be a key turning point in Russian history, as starvation and the war casualties led to a series of debilitating strikes, Tsar Nicholas II’s abdication, and, ultimately, the Russian Revolution.