'A beautiful haunting novel... looking at a familiar London through a
frosty, snowy lens. Wonderful' Caryl Phillips
The London winter of 1947 is as cold as St Petersburg during the
Revolution. Albertine, the wife of a British army officer often abroad
on covert government business, finds herself increasingly lonely. Eager
to distract herself with work, she takes a job as companion to the
mysterious 'Monsieur Ka', a Russian émigré. As she is drawn into Ka's
dramatic past, her own life is shaken to its foundations. For in this
family of former princes, there are present temptations which could
profoundly affect her future.