Description
Who should rule Russia? In an era of oligarchs and growing Russian wealth, the issue is not irrelevant. Equally, in the late nineteenth century, funding in university colleges was as essential as it is now. The novel is set in St George's College, Oxford, where mismanagement and factional rivalry have led to the urgent need to raise funds. A Russian Grand Duke, Eugene Saltanovich, has promised an endowment. Long resident in England, the Anglophile Prince Rostov, a former student at the college, is invited along with his wife, Princess Alisa, to a memorial dinner where he is to interpret the Grand Duke's speech. The occasion turns out to be a fiasco when the Grand Duke claims his dancing doll will save Russia. What follows is apparently murder and an attempted coverup that rouses the prince's suspicions. The Grand Duke's dancing doll proves to be a fact, but the alleged presence of nuns in the college leads the prince to realize that they offer a vital clue to the Grand Duke's, er, great idea. Rostov is witness to a further death, provokes a duel, finally uncovers the ambitious plan at the heart of the cover-up and the even more startling likelihood that, had the Grand Duke's, er, great idea worked, the history of the twentieth century might have been completely different. Ingenious, witty and original, The Grand Duke's, er, Great Idea is a quality crime novel based on historical fact, but strictly of relevance to the present day.
Sales: Star Book Sales T: 01404 515050 F: 01404 823820 E: enquiries@starbooksales.com Orders: Orca Book Services Ltd. T: 01235 465521 F: 01235 465555 E: tradeorders@orcabookservices.co.uk
About the Author
Return to Authors Index Page " Richard Freeborn About the author Richard's formal qualifications are principally academic. After service in the RAF and post-war work in Germany, where he also attended Goettingen university, he graduated from Oxford, did doctoral research and was posted by the FO to the British embassy in Moscow, joining what was called the Secretariat. Invited back to Oxford, he became a don and spent ten years there as tutor and lecturer before being offered a professorship at UCLA. This was followed by a professorship at Manchester University and finally appointment to the chair of Russian literature at London (SSEES). In the course of his career he gained an MA, a DPhil (Oxon), a DLitt (London), emeritus status and taught twice in California, interpreted for many major figures, including prime ministers and members of the Supreme Soviet, and travelled fairly widely in the Soviet Union in the immediate post-Stalin period, although in later decades he found he was persona non grata and not granted visas. He married his wife Anne, an embassy colleague while in Moscow, and they have four children and seven grandchildren. Academically his main interest has been Russian CXIX literature. He has written studies devoted to modern Russian history, the rise of the Russian novel and what he has called the Russian revolutionary novel. At the heart of his interest has been Ivan Turgenev, whose major literary works he has both translated and written about extensively. He was employed by MGM to monitor the English translation of Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago for the screenplay - this led him to look closely at the first Russian revolution of 1905. That it coincided with, and was partly due to, the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5, intrigued him, not because it was a defeat, but because it had become an almost forgotten event that threw up a number of issues still relevant to the present day. It offered a background to his novel, a trodden path, as it were, to the further aim of trying to create a plausible heroine who might exemplify what could be regarded as true American heroic endeavour, not grandiose, but essentially life-giving. His publications include, in the academic field, Studies of Turgenev (OUP, 1960, 1963; Greenwood, 1978), A Short History of Modern Russia (Hodder, London, 1963; Morrow, NY, 1965), The Rise of the Russian Novel (CUP, 1973; reissued 2010), The Russian Revolutionary Novel (CUP, 1982, 1985), Dostoevsky (Haus, London, 2003), Furious Vissarion: Belinskii's Struggle for Literature, Love and Ideas (SSEES, London, 2003). His translations from the Russian are Turgenev's Sketches from a Hunter's Album (Penguin Classics, London, 1967; complete ed., 1990), Home of the Gentry (Penguin Classics, London, 1970, many eds.), Rudin (Penguin Classics, London,1975), First Love and other stories (OUP World's Classics, 1989; originally published by the Folio Society, London, 1982), Fathers and Sons (OUP World's Classics, 1991, many eds., now a set book at the Open University), A Month in the Country (OUP World's Classics, 1991); Dostoevsky, An Accidental Family (OUP, World's Classics, 1994). His novels are Two Ways of Life (Hodder, London, 1962), The Emigration of Sergey Ivanovich (Hodder, London,1963; Morrow, NY, 1965), Russian Roulette (Cassell, London, 1979), The Russian Crucifix (Macmillan, London, 1987; St Martin's, NY, 1987). He has contributed to such works as the Encyclopedia Britannica and edited a number of academic studies and still reviews frequently for various journals. Works published in the USA include practically all his academic studies and translations as well as two of his novels, The Emigration of Sergey Ivanovich and The Russian Crucifix. His translation of Turgenev's play A Month in the Country starred Helen Mirren and John Hurt et al. when it was produced in London and enjoyed great success. Dame Helen Mirren then took it to Broadway where it enjoyed further success. She and John Hurt left him a very touching, congratulatory memento relating to his translation and their roles in the play. Works by Richard Freeborn: Academic Studies Turgenev, A Study A Short History of Modern Russia The Rise of the Russian Novel The Russian Revolutionary Novel Dostoevsky Furious Vissarion: Belinskii's Struggle for Literature, Love and Ideas Translations Ivan Turgenev, Sketches from a Hunter's Album Ivan Turgenev, Home of the Gentry Ivan Turgenev, Rudin Ivan Turgenev, A Month in the Country Ivan Turgenev, Fathers and Sons F.M Dostoevsky, An Accidental Family. Fiction Two Ways of Life The Emigration of Sergey Ivanovich Russian Roulette The Russian Crucifix American Alice The Killing of Anna Karenina Mr Frankenstein Watching the Accident Happen.
Book Information
ISBN 9780993578083
Author Richard Freeborn
Format Paperback
Page Count 247
Imprint Dynasty Press Ltd
Publisher Dynasty Press Ltd
Sales: Star Book Sales T: 01404 515050 F: 01404 823820 E: enquiries@starbooksales.com Orders: Orca Book Services Ltd. T: 01235 465521 F: 01235 465555 E: tradeorders@orcabookservices.co.uk
About the Author
Return to Authors Index Page " Richard Freeborn About the author Richard's formal qualifications are principally academic. After service in the RAF and post-war work in Germany, where he also attended Goettingen university, he graduated from Oxford, did doctoral research and was posted by the FO to the British embassy in Moscow, joining what was called the Secretariat. Invited back to Oxford, he became a don and spent ten years there as tutor and lecturer before being offered a professorship at UCLA. This was followed by a professorship at Manchester University and finally appointment to the chair of Russian literature at London (SSEES). In the course of his career he gained an MA, a DPhil (Oxon), a DLitt (London), emeritus status and taught twice in California, interpreted for many major figures, including prime ministers and members of the Supreme Soviet, and travelled fairly widely in the Soviet Union in the immediate post-Stalin period, although in later decades he found he was persona non grata and not granted visas. He married his wife Anne, an embassy colleague while in Moscow, and they have four children and seven grandchildren. Academically his main interest has been Russian CXIX literature. He has written studies devoted to modern Russian history, the rise of the Russian novel and what he has called the Russian revolutionary novel. At the heart of his interest has been Ivan Turgenev, whose major literary works he has both translated and written about extensively. He was employed by MGM to monitor the English translation of Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago for the screenplay - this led him to look closely at the first Russian revolution of 1905. That it coincided with, and was partly due to, the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5, intrigued him, not because it was a defeat, but because it had become an almost forgotten event that threw up a number of issues still relevant to the present day. It offered a background to his novel, a trodden path, as it were, to the further aim of trying to create a plausible heroine who might exemplify what could be regarded as true American heroic endeavour, not grandiose, but essentially life-giving. His publications include, in the academic field, Studies of Turgenev (OUP, 1960, 1963; Greenwood, 1978), A Short History of Modern Russia (Hodder, London, 1963; Morrow, NY, 1965), The Rise of the Russian Novel (CUP, 1973; reissued 2010), The Russian Revolutionary Novel (CUP, 1982, 1985), Dostoevsky (Haus, London, 2003), Furious Vissarion: Belinskii's Struggle for Literature, Love and Ideas (SSEES, London, 2003). His translations from the Russian are Turgenev's Sketches from a Hunter's Album (Penguin Classics, London, 1967; complete ed., 1990), Home of the Gentry (Penguin Classics, London, 1970, many eds.), Rudin (Penguin Classics, London,1975), First Love and other stories (OUP World's Classics, 1989; originally published by the Folio Society, London, 1982), Fathers and Sons (OUP World's Classics, 1991, many eds., now a set book at the Open University), A Month in the Country (OUP World's Classics, 1991); Dostoevsky, An Accidental Family (OUP, World's Classics, 1994). His novels are Two Ways of Life (Hodder, London, 1962), The Emigration of Sergey Ivanovich (Hodder, London,1963; Morrow, NY, 1965), Russian Roulette (Cassell, London, 1979), The Russian Crucifix (Macmillan, London, 1987; St Martin's, NY, 1987). He has contributed to such works as the Encyclopedia Britannica and edited a number of academic studies and still reviews frequently for various journals. Works published in the USA include practically all his academic studies and translations as well as two of his novels, The Emigration of Sergey Ivanovich and The Russian Crucifix. His translation of Turgenev's play A Month in the Country starred Helen Mirren and John Hurt et al. when it was produced in London and enjoyed great success. Dame Helen Mirren then took it to Broadway where it enjoyed further success. She and John Hurt left him a very touching, congratulatory memento relating to his translation and their roles in the play. Works by Richard Freeborn: Academic Studies Turgenev, A Study A Short History of Modern Russia The Rise of the Russian Novel The Russian Revolutionary Novel Dostoevsky Furious Vissarion: Belinskii's Struggle for Literature, Love and Ideas Translations Ivan Turgenev, Sketches from a Hunter's Album Ivan Turgenev, Home of the Gentry Ivan Turgenev, Rudin Ivan Turgenev, A Month in the Country Ivan Turgenev, Fathers and Sons F.M Dostoevsky, An Accidental Family. Fiction Two Ways of Life The Emigration of Sergey Ivanovich Russian Roulette The Russian Crucifix American Alice The Killing of Anna Karenina Mr Frankenstein Watching the Accident Happen.
Book Information
ISBN 9780993578083
Author Richard Freeborn
Format Paperback
Page Count 247
Imprint Dynasty Press Ltd
Publisher Dynasty Press Ltd
