GETTING MATUSHKA OUT

- by Ian McDougall

SYNOPSIS

On the rivers of Northern Russia a torrid love affair between a Russian lecturer and an English woman unfolds on a tourist shop – and then climaxes in violent tragedy.

The man is the son of a former Soviet official, now gravely ill, and his wife who are stationed in London on the eve of the collapse of the old Soviet Union. They insist that their son and daughter stay there because they will have a better future in Britain than in the wreck of the old Soviet Union to which they themselves now have to return. As time passes Nick Bell (as the lecturer is now named in his forged documents) is determined to go back to Russia and find his mother, or matushka as he fondly calls her, and bring her back to London whatever the risk.

Thus begins his desperate hunt for matushka, acted out against the background of Nicky's passionate relationship with Dotty Desmond, the ship's Tour Manager, and his often hilarious contacts with the passengers on board. His search is further complicated by the onslaught of a Russian mafia gang which stages a swift moving and brutal attempt to snatch the ship from rivals, and in so doing dramatically changes the future for Nick and Dotty.

THE AUTHOR

Ian McDougall has been involved in news and current affairs for almost all of his working life. He started with the Agence France-Presse in Paris, and then became the BBC’s youngest foreign correspondent at the age of twenty-eight. Assignments in Berlin, Bonn, Vienna, Belgrade, Moscow and again in Paris followed, as well as periods in Africa and the Far East. He has specialised in the affairs of former communist East Europe, and is widely regarded as an authority on the subject. Later he tutored and lectured for seven years at Oxford University’s Department for External Studies and later still he worked as a guest lecturer on ships plying the Russian rivers and canals, which involved dealing with visitors from many nations.

He has written ten books before this one. Three of them, which are non-fiction, deal with Germany, Africa and the life of a foreign correspondent. There are also seven novels under a pen-name (William Fennerton). He and his wife Elizabeth have two daughters and three granddaughters and live Henfield, West Sussex.

If you are local, you can purchase a copy direct from Ian McDougal for £9.99 (plus £1.25 if postage is required - UK) by calling 01273 494135.

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