Winner of the Political Fiction Book of the Year 2014.

By the author of the world-wide bestsellers,Jerusalem, andStalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, and based on a true story, a heart-breaking, addictively readable love story set in Stalin's Russia.

Ifyourchildren were forced to testify against you, what terrible secrets would they reveal?

Moscow 1945.As Stalin and his courtiers celebrate victory over Hitler, shots ring out. On a nearby bridge, a teenage boy and girl lie dead.

But this is no ordinary tragedy and these are no ordinary teenagers, but the children of Russias most important leaders who attend the most exclusive school in Moscow.

Is it murder? A suicide pact? Or a conspiracy against the state?

Directed by Stalin himself, an investigation begins as children are arrested and forced to testify against their friends - and their parents. This terrifying witch-hunt soon unveils illicit love affairs and family secrets in a hidden world where the smallest mistakes will be punished with death.

Simon Sebag Montefiore is the author of the acclaimed novels of his Moscow Trilogy Sashenka,Red Sky at NoonandOne Night in Winter,which won the Paddy Power Political Novel of the Year Prize and was longlisted for the Orwell Prize: the novels are published in 27 languages. Montefiore is also the author of prize-winning bestselling history books now in 48 languages, includingStalin: The Court of the Red Tsar,Jerusalem: The BiographyandThe Romanovs.

For more information see: www.simonsebagmontefiore.com or follow him on Twitter: @simonmontefiore.