Story strong on steam trains goes off the rails

THIS is a historical romance set in Russia in the period 1906-1920 which traces the fortunes of a pair of twins and the people who make up their aristocratic social and family circle. The Irish interest provided by this novelist, who was brought up in Ireland, is in the character of Harriet Boulting, the twins' governess.

The book's most interesting feature is the display by Hone of his close knowledge of certain mundane aspects of Russia in the period, such as the geography of St Petersburg and of Harbin in the Far East, the climate, the intricacies of the Civil War, and of more arcane matters, such as the features of steam trains of the period.

Apart from these features, this reviewer finds little to enthuse about in this novel. It is primarily afflicted with a surfeit of plot. There are enough events, reversals, breakthroughs and reunions to fill 10 novels of the same length. The result is that the reader learns to expect the most earth shattering and implausible things to happen every 20 pages or so.

For instance, after 500 pages the reader will hardly raise an eyebrow when a nurse, who has become a close friend of Harriet and the twin Yelena in their flight from the Reds eastward along the TransSiberian railway, is abducted (along with half of the Russian imperial gold reserves which happen to have been hidden on the hospital train on which the women are travelling) by a Chinese warlord who plans to re establish the Manchu dynasty in China, to become Emperor in Pekin (sic)".

Also in keeping with the general farfetched plot is the fact that for most of the second half of the novel Yelena's brother, Sasha, is the captive of a mad monarchist general who believes Sasha to be the sole surviving heir to the Romanov crown (he is a distant cousin of the tsar) before he is abducted by the very same Chinese warlord who is holding his sister's friend. By complete coincidence, you understand.

All of these twists and turns in the plot are entertaining enough, and the novel keeps the reader turning the pages about as well as any airport novel does. It is weakened, however, by a pervasive and somewhat cliche ridden romanticism. This is manifest primarily in the author's fondness for defining people according to their expected national characteristics: thus, the Russians are quarrelsome, negligent, impetuous and passionate rogues, while the few English people are as befuddled and homely as any Beatrix Potter character.

Then there is the bewitched female character, Yelena, whose madness erupts in the form of sexual rapaciousness and violent fits. Her mother is a vain woman of loose morals, which make her as contemptible for the reader as she is for her long suffering, principled yet weak willed husband (who finally proves his worth by losing a duel).

On top of all this, there is a continual idealisation of the Russian land and people; a ruthless, handsome but scarfaced Bolshevik commissar; and several acute cases of long unrequited love. When it is done, lovemaking is an ethereal experience which is followed by awkward silences and the inability to communicate.

Finally, this novel's relentlessly action packed plot lacks the sound and credible characterisation that it needs to help the reader recognise patterns of behaviour or consistent motivation. Hone's characters go through mood swings, transformations and even excommunications within the space of several lines. It seems that Hone, rather than developing characters who would populate a plausible novel, has to mould his characters to make plausible his event ridden story.